Shaman King II: After the afterlife
by weblasky
Summary: Where are the souls coming from? And what makes them come back? Or...should I say,who? The action takes place one week after Hao is killed by Yoh (the ending of the anime),somewhere in the desert...what's next? who's next? - Hao x OC
1. Chapter 1: Revive

**Chapter I **

**Revive**

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Shaman King.

**Notes**: *I'm mainly interested in character development. And yeah, Hao and my OC are kind of going to be the main characters.

But I will aso write from other character's perspective. I'm mainly interested in Yoh, Anna, another OC, Tao Ren, Lyserg, Manta, maybe Chocolove and Faust. The list depends on whatever travels my mind.

*Please write reviews because I'd really like to hear your opinion!

*For some chapters I would eventually mention a song that really matches the atmosphere..:)

Enjoy!

* * *

The Desert. A powerful sandstorm was taking place. The wind was blowing so fast that the sand could burry a camel in a few seconds. It seemed like the entire place wanted to get rid of something cursed for another 500 years…

A desert cloak fluttering. A human figure wandering in this hell of nature. Its head was covered up and nobody could tell what the heck it was looking for in this nightmare. The strange thing is that it was walking with small steps deeper in the storm, heading for the center.

A corpse. The walking traveler suddenly stopped and it let out a surprised scream of a girl. There was a back of a human body lying right in front of her. It was half buried in sand and blood and the other half was hidden by its long brown hair. The wind was stronger here. Luckily, she was managing to stand on her feet thanks to the electric shield she created.

The only surprising thing about the body is that after all this time, where there was no other living thing in sight, it was still emanating life. And the furyoku it preserved kept away the demonic spirits wandering around waiting to take the soul. She knew that this unconscious struggling for survival wouldn't last for much longer in those conditions. If she wanted to do something, she had to do it quick.

The last thing which appeared in the furious unleashed storm was the strong light of a portal. After that, everything suddenly calmed and the image of a desolated hot desert started to define itself again.

* * *

In a semi-dark room lighten by candles, a half covered body was lying on its back on a transmutation circle. It figured out to be the corpse of a teenage boy with long hair, having a deep cut on his chest. With her both hands on the cut, the girl was desperately trying to resurrect him. She had done this with animals before, but this time the results won't be so accurate. Although the body managed to maintain a big part of its pulse, the wound was quite serious and it was clearly not made by a usual weapon. The process of opening the portal took a part from her furyoku, and she didn't know if she had enough left for the healing. She also knew that she wasn't a master healer like her mother, but she wanted to give her best, to give her sweat and blood…literarlly. For the process she had to donate blood because the victim already lost a big part of it. Blood type converting was already something she could do with a little amount of energy.

That was it. After a whole night, the yellow light emanated from her hands was starting to fade. The healing process was unfinished and there was nothing she could do.

Her arms were also tired and for a second the hands touched the damaged skin.

Then it hit her. The energy she had left was enough for redirecting his furyoku to heal himself, by controlling the chi flow in his body. It worked perfectly. It was amazing how much this half dead boy could have left. He clearly was a powerful shaman, perhaps even stronger than her mother.

It wasn't until noon she went to bed exhausted. She even wondered how it was possible to walk to her room. Luckily it was also upstairs.

The birds singing woke her up. She was still tired and wanted to sleep for at least another year. She angrily shut the window.

She couldn't even lie down in bed properly before the door opened. Right there, instead of her mother shouting at her like in the old days, it was THAT boy. She saw him with his dark brown eyes opened for the first time. Alive. On his chest was still a slight mark. It was only noticeable because he was half naked.

Too bad she closed the window too quickly. So the second thing she could do was to throw a pillow and embarrassingly shout:

"Put some clothes on!"

The boy easily dodged with a bit confused but unsurprised expression.

"I came to ask about the same thing. I've searched everywhere but I couldn't find them. I didn't want to bother your sleep so I only came in after I heard the window shutting."

"Oh…um, thank you…"

"Do you know where my clothes are, -?"

"Um, Rilury. I'm Rilury Takahashi."

"That's quite a strange name."

"I know, my father gave it to me. He wanted it to be sort of…unique…"

"Huh, I like it actually. I usually forget common names."

"What is yours? Oh wait, first let me get your clothes. They were in my drawer after I've washed them, but I was so tired that I forgot to leave them next to you."

"Hm... Maybe after this you could also explain me how I got here. See you later!" he cordially smiled.

"Bye...", she mumbled with her hand half raised to wave.

Rilury stared confused at the door for another 5 seconds. Then she covered herself in the bed sheets, hit by the sudden realization of the awkwardness she created.

* * *

"My name is Asakura Hao."

After a long awkward silence, he answered the question she put a few hours ago.

They were both standing on the balcony in the breezing summer night. She felt at first a bit uncomfortable near him. After all, she hadn't had such a close contact with another human being in a long time excepting her family. Her mother was supposed to be the only one she could have short talks from time to time. But she was too busy with all sorts of different shaman stuff lately, especially after she recently joined the Council. And she had a high position as well, being a master of exorcising and a great portal opener. It was running in her blood as well. The Takahashi family, recognized for those spiritual abilities and best known for their vices. They always had a nonconformist way of living, perhaps this is why they didn't had to do much with the Patch Tribe. Until now. Akira Takahashi was claimed for a special task of a great importance.

He was gazing at the sky the whole time she explained him everything. Of course this discussion took a while after it started. She first was hesitating after she saw him standing on the balcony. So she tried to move quietly around the house and do her chores, being relieved that he didn't seem to notice her. After she finished she quietly opened a book to read, because she still didn't have the guts. The she heard a voice:

"Hey Rilury, now that you are finished, could you come over?"

She didn't have any chance avoiding this discussion from the beginning.

After she stopped telling her story there was another awkward silence that day in the house, shortly broken by his voice. His eyes were now looking in the deep.

"Although I do remember my name and the fact that I am a shaman, I can't remember why I was at the Shaman Tournament. Most of the things are blurred in my head and I can't make connections between some fading moments…"

"Well, you kind of were in a coma. It is normal for the brain to have a few memory gaps, but it will recover step by step. I don't know how longer it will take, though."

"Hm…this is after all quite unimportant considering that I am alive. I really owe you, thanks a lot! said Hao with an even bigger smile on his face, and this thing made Rilury feel relieved."

They both smiled and the silence that came after wasn't so weird anymore.

"Do you smoke often?" Hao asked, looking at the ashtray on the railing.

Rilury felt a bit ashamed of herself. The ashtray was there for her mother, who would often smoke half a package deeply thinking about her problems. She hadn't taken up smoking, but from time to time, a cigarette would make her feel better after a long period she hadn't been seeing anybody or just thinking about stuff that could happen in the future to get her out of depression. Of course, Hao was the only one suspecting her.

"My mother usually does that" she said, hiding her glance.

"I wasn't asking about her", he said chuckling. "But I don't have a problem if you do that once in a while."

"_How did he know?"_ she asked herself.

"Oh, I can read minds. I should have probably told you that when you were hiding in the house."

She covered her face in her arms. Could a lightning struck her and end it all? That would be nice. But of course it won't do that. It usually tickles.

"By the way, I'm really interested to see your electricity powers. It's impressive that you do that without a visible spirit. Maybe you could show me a demonstration tomorrow? I'd also be glad to show you mines if you'd like."

She smiled and nodded. Then, even if Hao already knew, he still asked where he could sleep tonight. The guest room always comes in handy, even if for most of the time it's just another extra room to clean up.

On second thoughts, she shouldn't have worried herself too much about the talking. Actually, she could not talk at all. But it's actually nice having somebody to talk to after a while. If it weren't for him, she would have created again those lightning fake mini-spirits. It's like having some imaginary material friends. She may be in fact talking to herself, but at least they are helping out with her chores.

As she was trying to put herself to sleep, she couldn't stop thinking about what happened in those few days. Or maybe in this week (she slept more than she thought).

All that was the portal device her mother built to get faster to the Shaman Council. Some painful days to decide whether or not she should go to the place of the Tournament she always dreamed to participate in, some destination retouching not to be discovered and…voila! Life changed! It hadn't went as planned, but a boy she knows nothing about and some thrilling experiences were better than all those days spent alone in the house and boring herself to death.

But, from the moment she had taken the leap of fate, she still hadn't figured out if she had made the right choice...


	2. Chapter 2: Strangers

**Chapter II**

**Strangers**

Rilury wasn't the morning type, but this time she woke up early only to realize that her guest hadn't eaten anything since he got there. She tried to dress up as fast as and went straight to the kitchen. The fridge was as empty as her stomach.

It was still early in the morning so she still had time to buy some groceries. And this was a reason for her to dress up more...acceptable for going out.

She looked at herself in the dusty mirror. Her face looked a bit tired, and the slight dark rings accentuated her rifle green eyes which she inherited from her mother. Being a common face in the crowd full of people always in a hurry, perhaps nobody would notice that her short brown hair was a bit messed up, especially that blonde strand that was never in place, but it was supposed to be rebellious as it was the second and last appearance gene from her mother.

Nothing could fix her look except for a banal black shirt and kaki comfortable pants, to get completely invisible. Only the black straps would look a bit odd on her, but she wanted to wear them anytime she had the chance. After all they were a gift from an old friend, and those kind of things always bring luck.

But it didn't happen as she wanted to. It never did. In the grocery store, there was a weird tiny boy looking at her with big eyes. By his height, it seemed he was in the 6th grade, but actually he had quite a mature and analytic look. He stared at her for at least ten minutes, analyzing her. She couldn't stand it anymore so she wanted to say something. But the boy turned his head really quick and his blush was so cute that Rilury thought it isn't so bad to enjoy some harmless attention for the first time.

As she was returning home with the bags twice as heavier, she decided to take the shortcut, which was walking by a small river. Then she had the surprise of seeing Hao, fishing with sort of a handmade rod.

"I think I haven't done this in a while. I'm glad I haven't forgotten about it" he said with his eyes looking on the bait.

"Oh my, sorry for keeping you waiting…"she said a bit surprised, because she had never seen people doing this near-by.

"Don't worry, this type of food is healthier. After all, this is a mountain zone."

A fish popped out of the water. The sun was making its mullet sparkle. Even if that poor creature suffered, it was interesting to watch.

"Want to give it a try?" he asked gazing at her with some joyful eyes.

"Um, I haven't done this before. But I think I'll give it a shot."

She held the wooden bat and tried to stand properly.

"You are too tense. This activity is meant for recreation" Hao told her friendly patting her shoulder.

The waiting was a bit long but the reaction Rilury had when the sting was moving, was priceless. She received a little help to control the angle, but she managed to catch that small stubborn fish.

"Well, I think we have enough to eat. I caught another three ones when you were gone."

Rilury was looking at her fish desperately trying to escape from the bucket and started to think that it wasn't right to take away his childish aspiration to swim to the open wide sea.

"Um, I think I'll let mine go back in the water… she said and then she took the slippery creature in her hands. The little ungrateful bastard jumped in the river and splashed her."

They both had a little portion of laugh. How foolish of her to think those kind of crazy stuff about those creatures.

But she was glad that she hadn't put something so small in such a big fire. Hao lighten it himself, out of nowhere. So he can control fire. She suddenly remembered about the sort of training session they were supposed to do that day, but continued to quietly eat the snacks she bought.

* * *

They were both standing in the open mountain field, a place where Rilury used to train by bringing some wooden stools to practice on, even if they would get destroyed real quickly and it just felt like fighting in the open air. They were also heavy, so the training area would usually take her two or three days to prepare. But firstly she wanted to show him the place.

"It's not ready yet, but at least we have enough space…"

"Don't worry about that, it will only take a minute."

He touched the ground with his hand and suddenly twelve earth columns rose from the ground, forming a closed barricade. Then a series of circle columns followed, one larger and bigger than another. It was amazing, a basic form she would probably never build even in ten years.

"I thought you controlled only fire" she said astonishingly watching the surrounding.

"Actually, I think have a connection with all nature elements."

"Hmm... So, who goes first?" she asked with an exciting voice.

"Please, I insist!" Hao made a hand gesture inviting her to begin.

Tremendous and a little intimidating, but she wanted to try and take down at least one. She took her blade, which was in fact a wolfram wire shaped in form of a little sword.

The she canalized the furyoku in her hands. Her hair became messy, affected by electrostatics and yellow fractals came out from place she was holding the metal. In a few seconds the electric sparkles made a magnificent sword shape, which looked like a sword made out of golden unstable spikes.

But it wasn't only nature power. That blade was not made of lightning. It was more like pure energy which affected the atoms surrounding the wolfram and made the electrons combine, overwhelming the protons, so the electromagnetic waves could smash material things. This was the result of a spirit power which didn't seem to be made by her, but only brought in this shape and not so effortlessly controlled.

She attacks. Leaf edge forms cut twenty columns randomly. But those were just simply waves.

And that was just the warm up. She climbed one column and then jumped. Shamans could do really high jumps using the furyoku to bust their feet. She raised her blade and attacked in a spiral shape form, which made the air particles to resonate in a burst of sky splinters. This time the rocks smashed on the ground and the field looked like a pizza missing a big slice.

"I call this The Shocking Spiral... Hey, don't laugh! I'm still working with the names!"

-"Usually shamans name their techniques in order to compound his soul with the spirit by shouting it loud. I don't think you need to do that."

"Yeah, but it still sounds cool."

"And it was quite impressive."

"Thanks..." she said flattered. "Now it's your turn."

"Hmm, let's see. I still can't remember how to summon my guardian spirit. But I will use the energy from the sun... even if I could destroy those things using my earth power again, since I had created them in the first place."

She laughed with a bit of jealousy:

"Now, now, and you thought I was showing off…"

Hao took his gloves off. He needed to gather the right amount of energy to release it in an efficient attacking form. Rilury watched him curiously, as he suddenly raised his right arm and formed a more stable sword than hers. He was holding it effortlessly with one hand. The left arm only touched the edge to confer it a big energy density.

He attacked with precision and steadiness. Making a small quick move, the whole row of columns was completely destroyed.

He indeed was much more experienced than her. She figured that out from that perfect direct attack.

The next move was with energy unleashing. Hao took his position and the sword movement was under his waist. It was more like a rising wave, or in this case… fire.

It seemed to be at first a flame tornado, but it inexplicably exploded. The columns burst into flames and because of their arrangement they formed a freaking burning pentagram.

All that Rilury could see was him standing there unmoved, not realizing that everything was burning to ashes. He seemed to have disrupted himself from the horrifying view.

Did he lost control? Did he made this on a whim?

Hao was just staring blankly at the enormous disastrous fire.


	3. Chapter 3: Where is my mind?

**Chapter III**

**Where is my mind?**

The light sword came like a lightning, cutting him and his guardian spirit in half.

What was the revelation he had in the last second?

In the first past life he thought about the fact that he MUST change the world, or it will destroy itself.

In the second one he thought about Matamune and forgave his best friend's betrayal.

* * *

This time it happened too fast. His head was empty and all he got left with was the bitter taste of death.

Purgatory. He was standing there and the demons were trying to enter his mind. Some of them would call it the holy judgment: but it wasn't like that at all. There were only Oni's who were trying to affect his subconscious. Make him go mad and hate himself for what he did.

But Hao went here before. He instinctively emptied his head. Hiding himself, wrap the Neocortex in a hibernating state of mind. Forgetting…

About everything which you had done to stain your heart, because they will make you slaughter your chest.

About your purpose in life, because they will make you shoot your head.

About the people you've met, because they will make you hang yourself so they could see your dead body.

They will make you wish to stay in hell forever.

Like a little child, home alone, with the criminals heavily knocking on the door. They smell your fear and they grow even stronger. You cry, waiting for them to break in… and your thoughts are unlocking the door like a key.

But for Hao, there was always something that would destroy them, standing by his side. Always ready to appear.

It was fire. He hides the skeletons in the closet and holds his hands tight on the matches. Only one thing he knows: when he lights them up, it is all over.

He can come back to normal again. It will all come back to him.

Only this time….

Some flashing light came like a train and smashed over them. Only their arms would come from underneath the rail and would desperately try to grab him.

Then, everything was black. After that it became blurred…except a palpable hand on his chest. For only one second. Then he got flooded with furyoku. The unusual flowing chi was taking his soberness and he fell asleep again.

* * *

He woke up in an empty room. Hao sensed the presence of someone in the house. He or she was being silent, probably sleeping, because that is the only time he couldn't read any thoughts.

The room was next o a large open balcony. He sat there waiting for the other person to wake up. He couldn't remember anything but only vague things about himself.

It was futile trying to answer to questions that he didn't even know how to conceive.

The only thing that interested him right know was "the sleeping beauty". But for that he had to wait.

Thinking and trying to remember different things from his life. He vaguely remembered having a friend when he was young. He taught him how to fish, how to write, count, the names of hina dolls, birds… He ate the very first sweets. He learnt how to make an oversoul.

But he doesn't know who could be his guardian spirit.

Then it was a cat. A pure living thing. He raised it and gave it a part from his power. But somehow there was a fight…

There was also another one who raised his sword against him and it really was disappointing.

But why would they do that?

"You stupid birds! That's how you repay me after feeding you all winter!?"

She shut the window.

That was weird. So she woke up. It would be a shame if something else bothered her. Hao laughed a bit inside. Too bad he needed his clothes

What could go wrong after all? Everyone can be a rational person when it comes to strangers…

It didn't go as planned...A pair of green eyes with a lot of mixed-up emotions were looking at him. There was a gleam in her gaze, something that made him look elsewhere. After all he wasn't in such a comfortable situation.

But at least she seemed to be a nice person. And also interesting. Hao remembers meeting other plain people with nothing to share because of being concerned with their own lives.

This girl seemed to be more interested in Hao than herself. But if so then why doesn't she try controlling her reactions in order to make a good impression? Well, maybe she is the type who speaks out her mind.

And now she's hiding in the house. Recently she would be capable of beating him up for being half naked and now she doesn't want to see him dressed…?

After a talk, Hao was able to read a big part of her thoughts. She was just contradicting herself and it seemed like she talked in her mind more than in the actual discussion.

"_Should I lie?"_

"_No, why would you hide yourself?"_

"_You're right, lying is also bad"_

"_Aww, now be a good girl and tell your mommy that you broke the vase"_

"_Oh, come on, stop being sarcastic! I am a horrible person"_

"_Maybe I should just tell the truth."_

"_Smoking may be a reason of prejudice"_

"_He already thinks you're a weirdo. Maybe you should just avoid the answer. How about your mother? She would be proud of this bad habit"_

"_Great idea! Saved by my mom's coolness. Again…"_

She seems like a lonely person. Maybe she never had a friend before…

* * *

Hao could easily leave and search for answers. But firstly he wanted to see the power this girl had. She was after all able to resurrect him, so a demonstration of her powers would be interesting to watch.

And before that, they even fished together, even if she had that strange mercy. Surprisingly, Hao didn't even feel a slight remorse doing this. After all, she was being quite silly, but she still had a wonderful imagination about the dreams of a fish, which was…so small…

Maybe spending more time with her wouldn't be a waste of time. Perhaps they would even get along together.

* * *

Rilury's spirit isn't in this world. She indeed uses its power and even seems to make sort of an incomplete OS… The technique is eluding. Maybe after he'll remember more about shamans history he'll be able to understand where the source of those power is…

* * *

And he did. Hao Asakura understood everything…but this time, he wasn't in hell. His subconscious took over and revealed his five-pointed star. He was standing in the middle of a burning pentagram. He smirked.

When you light the matches, the carpet takes fire…and the childish game is over.


	4. Chapter 4: Hero

**Chapter IV**

**Hero**

"The final battle, good versus evil". Everybody was waiting for Yoh to decide the fate of the world.

They gave him their support. They gave him their power. They gave him their desire.

Yoh killed his own brother. And he was a hero in their eyes…

At first, it was quite awkward knowing that everybody wants your brother dead. But then he saw that they actually had some things in common. Quite a few, actually nothing, but at least they both didn't take life too seriously. After all, he returned from hell 2 times in a row and didn't consider killing people such a big deal.

Death wasn't really the most important thing Yoh would think about. But he didn't like it when others would be in pain. Their expression when they die is always distressing…

And it is quite sad when they die, because you will somehow miss their presence.

But Hao didn't care. That's why his guardian spirit would even eat their souls. He, apart from Yoh, didn't get attached so easily to others. And when he somehow did, the first criterion was obedience.

They both wanted something else. The only difference is that Hao knew what he wanted, while Yoh was letting the days pass by. He didn't even know if he wanted to become the Shaman King. Yeah, it would be fun to have unlimited power, but what would he do with it? After a bit of innocent God playing, he will eventually be a good king and listen to the voice of his people.

But he's already done that. They already made him a king, and along with the huge power they also overwhelmed him with their wishes to slaughter his brother.

It wasn't fun at all.

Right after that, Hao's body disappeared.

"The Gobi spirits will proceed to take his soul deep in hell and keep it there for another 500 years" explained Silva.

Yoh tried to seem happy about it. But he couldn't.

"Even so, Hao damaged the Great Spirit more than ever now…I don't even know if the Shaman Fight would even take place again. As it may concern for others…"

"Silva, I would like it if you didn't tell them yet. It would be really cruel to destroy all their hopes so suddenly, but I'm sure they will accept it in time."

The Patch officiant nodded, meaning that he understood.

Even for Yoh it was disappointing. Because of the Shaman Fight he met all of his friends..and he also met his brother.

Now, there was no chance for him to return. "Everything will work out", but not for Hao.

Maybe he could have done something to change the situation…

"Yoh, should we go now?"

That was Anna. It was the first time actually when she was being polite. And he couldn't refuse to respond to this 8th World Wonder.

But it didn't feel right. Even an Apocalypse would have been better for him. Depressing that he would have to return to his normal life…painful that he killed somebody for the first time.

Or almost…The blade which was aiming for the vital points by itself, had missed. Because of Yoh. Because he still didn't want to kill him. And he felt that Hao was still alive somehow…it wasn't the best brother he could have wished for, but he was the only one, thing which was quite nice.

But day by day, his presence was disappearing from this world…

After seven days, something strange happened. Hao came back to life. But something was missing from this weird brother-thingy-telepathy. Yoh started to be more calm and happy with himself. Even Manta wondered how could he have this inner peace, knowing that they didn't hear nothing about the next Shaman Fight.

Anna sent Yoh to do the shopping, like she always does. It was annoying, but this time he would have rather thanked her, because else he wouldn't have seen the strange amount of smoking leaking out from Mount Takao. Everybody was walking carelessly, thinking that somebody already alarmed the firefighters, thing which, actually, nobody did.

And neither would Yoh. Because that wasn't a normal conflagration. It was clearly something which seemed to be a star, the symbol that confirmed the great return of Hao Asakura.

He should have started to get worried, because everything seemed to start over again. But Yoh didn't. Once you replay the game of saving the world again, you won't get so overly scared like you were the first time.

He was actually kind of excited. Out of boredom again, thing which he didn't dislike, but in this way he will fight again alongside with his friends. He wouldn't tell them that yet of course, because Hao himself knew how to make a great entrance.

* * *

The only one who was being worried was Rilury. She was frightened. She knew she had to do something, because it was all her fault.

She jumped and went straight in the middle, where he seemed to be teared apart from reality. She felt a strange enormous spirit weight. She touched his arm and tried to snap him out of the apparent trance.

"Can you hear me? Hao!"

He suddenly looked at her, smirking.

"Oh, sorry, Rilury... I just forgot to introduce it to you…Great Spirit of Fire, rise!"

The flames formed an enormous red monster, so big that it could smash her house by simply stepping on it.

"This…is…unbelievable…"

"Are you afraid?" He asked plainly.

"What? Of course I am! He is so big! You could beat me in a second!" She said amazed.

Hao was again a bit surprised by her strange combination of emotions she felt. At first it was fear, then it was envy and now admiration. This girl just can't decide herself how to react. And it would have been simpler if she did, because that would have shown her weaknesses.

She stood there for a second and then she tried to pet it. Like it was an animal. Maybe she didn't knew the concept of a spirit. She defiantly didn't participate in The Shaman Fight, nor see other shamans excepting her mother. Even The Spirit of Fire seemed surprised with such a treatment. Usually, people would stand in front of it frightened, or they would obey his master, or just fight with him. In most of the cases, he would have eaten them.

"Come on boy! Let's play! You'll get a reward!" Rilury took a wooden stick and threw it.

"Come on! Go burn it!" she said.

The Spirit stood there confused. The weirdest thing is that she was so good in her acting, that it actually had the initiative to run after the stick.

"Hmm... you aren't probably used to this. But you're still an awesome spirit!"

Hao had a wry expression on his face all this time. But when he felt that the Guardian of Fire actually started to like it, he stopped her.

"That's not how you treat the spirits, Rilury!" he said a bit arrogant.

"Really? But that's how my mother is training her spirit."

"Your mother?"

"Yeah! Her spirit is The Cerberus!"

So the monster that guards the entrance of Hades. Nothing unusual for the Takoyama family, the masters of space modelling, gate openers and summoning.

"That doesn't mean you have to treat my spirit like her three-headed monster dog."

"Then how do you do it, mister know-it-all?"

"You usually command them, like this: Great Spirit Of Fire! Unleash the incinerator!"

In a second all the left training columns were instantly erased.

"Psh...I could also do that if I could summon my spirit. But I don't want to bother myself too much..._Since I don't know where it actually is..."_

Hao looked at her oddly. Then laughed.

"You know, you are a strange girl."

Rilury felt a bit embarrassed, but she was calm right now, thing which made her to slightly smile.

Hao thought that it wouldn't be a waste of time if he would stick here for a while. At least after he would put his thoughts in order and make a new plan, since none of this was actually expected.

And he was glad that Rilury didn't mention anything about what happened. Even if she thought about it, she was either too shy, either at some points simply was simply forgetting that. But it is always good to ask questions later. Because, before telling her more about himself, he wanted to study her closely. She sounded quite promising as a shaman.


	5. Chapter 5: Lady of the flowers

**Chapter V**

**Lady of the Flowers**

**Note:** This chapter is a bit longer, but I wanted to put everything in one song: **_Placebo: Lady of the Flowers_**.

As I said from the beginning of the fanfiction, I would sometime choose a music that matches the atmosphere I wanted to create. The lyrics from the song are written in _italic._

_I will edit the writing mistakes later_

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Three weeks have passed

Although the Takahashi residence was no more occupied by 2 people, the atmosphere changed. Hao would sometimes visit Rilury, even if he had to spend most of his time recruiting the old and new members for his team. Even if he already gathered 10 people, including some veterans, Hao would still feel lonely from time to time. Maybe because he couldn't find Opacho anywhere…and he also didn't want to find him.

Rilury didn't actually know what Hao was doing while he was gone. She thought that maybe she isn't a strong enough shaman to train with her. But even so, Hao would still have training sessions with her, especially in the evenings. Of course those were much helpful for her than for him, as it was clearly obvious that she was most of the time in the center of the action and Hao was just pleased to observe her attacking and seemed to be quite interested in her element power. He would also teach her how to use her furyoku wisely and some tai chi movements to gain complete control over her chi flow.

Rilury thought that all shamans could use the electric power to bend the atoms at will. But it seemed that she got that sort of unique talent to do that, as Hao told her.

Maybe all he wanted was to recruit her. A girl separated from the society will soon see and understand his plans.

And her company was also nice, since none of the thoughts she had were common between the shamans he had met. Sometimes they were mean, sometimes they were funny. And the best part is that she almost forgot his telepathic power. Rilury was that kind of sincere type, who would recognize her flaws and wouldn't be ashamed of who she was.

"I can't imagine a perfect world. I can only picture it like a bidimensional circle. If everybody was perfect then we wouldn't have anything to live for. Life would be as simple as death. I like everybody to have their own flaws, their vices, their obsessions, their drugs. Something that pushes you from behind. The only thing that bothers me about these stuff is that because of them we often hurt the people we care about." She would usually say that as they took a break, standing on a cliff and stargazing. That was one thing they had in common. As she was thinking about that, a vague person came in her mind, but Hao couldn't figure it out who it was, since it was a memory her brain didn't want to process it now.

Letting your mind explore the vast universe and think about unanswerable questions, thinking about the insignificant purpose of life.

"We are so small…" Rilury mumbled with a bit of a sadly impressed voice.

Hao remained silent and looked at her. The loner who lost a friend, the person who would randomly save another one's life and put herself at risk, the inexperienced shaman with an impressionable ability and the girl with the green eyes, full of sincerity and stubbornness.

It was vaguly explainable why he would act so normal with her.

When she got angry whenever she lost and tried to randomly attack the air, she would then calm down and keep a pouting expression. Then she would laugh and then apologize.

_Excuse me, I have to apologize,_

_She's got vacuum cleaner eyes,_

_Suck you in_

Sometimes when Hao would come to her house and visit her, he would see the disastrous kitchen, with dirty dishes everywhere, and some of them broken, with the mini-spirits cleaning. That time he knew that Rilury was in the living room, eating a jumbo pizza or a spaghetti monster.

"You deserve to be fat. You can't even cook something more elaborate than a simple ramen!" she whined to herself.

And then she would notice him, go to the kitchen, leak a short scream, return and ask:

"Umm…do you want a slice?"

_She's got magazines, filled with pear pies,_

_Excuse me, I apologize._

Before, he would kill whoever showed a slight disobedience. But he already remade his team, and they all wanted to follow him and seriously conceive their actions, hardly trying to grow in his eyes.

She had one kind of an attitude. She would have at least ten personalities. She was happy when she was his company. In those times, Rilury always had that vitality sparkle and wanted to live more than ever.

Hao himself noticed some slight differences when he was with her. He would laugh more, go fishing more often, carelessly react without thinking about the psychological dominance he usually had to create with the opponents. He would enjoy life again, and sometimes even forget about changing the whole world.

_It seemed to last for hours_

_It seemed to last for days_

_This lady of the flowers_

_And her hypnotic gaze._

But she had to realize that imperfection means chaos, and along with chaos comes destruction.

* * *

One day Hao was doing his morning walk. He knew this was the day when "they" would begin their work. The birds weren't singing anymore.

And then it started. A deafening metal noise, the sound of the trees falling. The animals were running in the opposite direction.

He arrived at Rilury's house. She was already opening the door, with her hair messy because she had to dress up quickly.

"Hao, do you know what's happening? This noise is making the animals go crazy!"

"Yes, but I have to show it to you in order to understand. Come with me"

The spirit of fire carried them to the building are. Huge machines had already deforested a big part of the mountain.

"Destruction of nature. Only for money. Typical for humans" said Hao disgraced.

In his surprise, Rilury wasn't next to him anymore. She was already arguing with a worker.

"What's the meaning of all this?!" she angrily asked a worker.

"Kid, that's none of your business. Now go and play with the dolls." The worker said, before getting on a bulldozer.

"You don't have permission to do this! This is a natural preservation!"

"Sorry hippie-girl, but orders are orders!" he said and then started the machinery, without even looking that it almost hit her.

"You'll pay for this!" she shouted.

Then she went nearby Hao, without saying anything. She then concentrated her furyoku in her body.

The bulldozer then went kaput. With her electric power, she could break machines and therefore stop the deforestation.

But it was useless, and Hao knew that. Still, she watched her trying, with her determined look. But they would always come back after a shallow victory of one hour.

Even if they would stop, they would always come back with even greater and bigger tools of destruction.

Rilury stood there, unshakable, with the yellow spikes surrounding the whole area.

_It seemed to last for hours_

_It seemed to last for days_

_This lady of the flowers_

_Her electronic haze._

And then, Rilury went out of furyoku and fainted. The next thing she knew was waking up in her bed and realizing the strange silence that surrounded her.

It was a strange evening and Rilury knew that there was something stranger in the air, as the sun was slowly going down.

She went instinctively to the place where they would usually watch the stars, because that was the only place where there was no sight of the city lights.

She found him. Hao was standing there, calmly waiting for her.

"I…what happened?" she said confused. "Did they finally gave up?"

Hao ironically smiled.

"Of course not. Humans do humiliating things for money, and they would never give up on them. The workers, although they were doing the dirty work, were just some puppets. The real mastermind behind this was a rich and international company. The owner bribed the politicians to obtain an area for building another factory. And that was only the façade. They actually wanted to exploit the whole mountain."

"And how did they…"

"Stopped? You can't make them change their mind. You have go exterminate them. " Hao's voice changed.

"Wait…you killed them?"

"Of course, Rilury. There wasn't any other way. The funny thing was that the workers were so blind that they haven't even cared their boss was dead. They still continued to work to obtain their money from the company. Of course, not for long. They somehow realized that fire was more powerful than all their machines."

He talked with disgust. Hatred was fully distinguishable in his eyes.

Rilury stood there. She was astonished by his words. Could this cruel shaman with a cold voice be the same boy with she was stargazing at the same place?

And all those lives…wiped out.

But she had to understand him now, as Hao thoguht. He looked her in the eyes and said with a soft voice:

"Rilury, humans are the cancer for this planet. They all must be exterminated. Look how much they destroyed a few days, imagine what they would if they would live more. They must be annihilated."

Rilury was just blankly staring at the stars.

The girl had so many thoughts in her head at first. But now…she wasn't thinking about anything. Perhaps, as Hao thought, she just wanted to let the terrible sensation of comprehending to pass away.

"It must be a shock for you. All this day living in your own world. But you have to endure the reality, as harsh as it is."

The GOF (great spirit of fire) rose from the depths. They bot seemed to be imposing and hard to refuse.

Rilury had a slight surprised reaction. Her pupils shrinked.

_She wears her tears on her blouse_

_Confused and racked with self-doubt_

"But we, shamans, are different. Because we can see another part of this reality. We can foresee the results of our actions. That's why…together"

He offered his hand. Waiting for her answer.

"We can change the world"

_She stole the keys to my house_

Rilury slightly raised her hand.

_And then she locked herself out_

A slap.

She slapped him instinctively. She did it without any concerning.

Hao looked at her surprised.

"I know how the real world is, Hao. And I know it even better than yourself."

This reaction was unexpected for Hao. He thought she would follow him no matter what, but she kept her position strongly and confronted him. The slight pain on his cheek was bitter, and his eyes became a bit shaded.

_She stole the keys to my house_

_And then she locked herself out_

But he saw again that stubborn look in her eyes. Hao realized that he knew all along that this would happen. He smirked.

"You will eventually change your mind." he said convinced of his words.

Rilury changed her expression into a more confused one.

"You will one day be ready to accept the situation. But don't worry, before all that, we'll see each other again soon enough. "

Then he and he Fire Spirit disappeared in a burst of flames.

Rilury stood there. Now her eyes were flooded in tears. Not even a light. Not even a hope.

She fell on her knees and unabashedly bawled her eyes out.

**To be continued...**

**Please review! Oh, and please tell me which of the chapters you liked the most. Mine is still chapter 3, because I think I've contoured a bit Hao's inner self...:**


	6. Chapter 6: Revlution

**Chapter VI**

**Revolution**

At The Shaman Council there was a critical situation. It was the first time the evil Asakura had managed to damage the Great Spirit. Even if he was defeated once again, the GS interrupted its contact with the material world and its external links needed to be reattached once again.

There was needed for a great summoner, somebody known for its great abilities to open the gates between the two worlds. The Takhashi family.

Although Akira Takahashi had powerful genes that even made her husband to take her family name, she still was known for her unconventional way of living. She was the kind of powerful woman who would lead her own path through the spirit world and expand her views. Not being ashamed of having materialistic pleasures and defiantly never refusing money, because it was a great tool for manipulating foolish people to do what she wanted.

This is why The Great Council stood a long time on their thoughts before they would call for her help. Having such reduced founds they wouldn't be surprised if Akira would make them bankrupt.

Goldva, after taking his time and adopting his serious posture, stood in front of the tall long blonde-haired woman who was waiting impatiently.

"How much?" he finally asked, expecting a reasonable answer.

Akira adopted a lofty position exposing her flawless body with good defined curves. A sparkle could easily be seen in her green eyes.

"6.000.000 yens" she answered promptly. "No negotiating."

For Goldva this was something unsurprising from a Takahashi member. Still, it wasn't something they couldn't handle.

"Agreed" he said, slightly relieved the discussion was over. But then a slight smirk blossomed on her thick lips.

"Alright, now that we settled my payment, you should procure the money for the restoring process. Don't worry, it is only 12.000.000 yen, and that's because I need less material."

* * *

The smoke was rising from the ashtray in a grey twine. Another finished cigarette and an impatient flame emerged from the lighter.

The lips blew out a smoking veil which was covering her thoughts.

Rilury smoked half a package already. She hasn't done this in a long time and her lungs were already screaming for help.  
But she didn't care. She didn't even know why she smoked. Perhaps to distract her from her feelings that already soaked her tears.

"_We usually indulge ourselves in those vices to kind of forget about our problems. We harm our body to tell our mind to be more concerned about its health. If selfishness is what makes us suffer, then we use it to redirect our concern."_

The voice from her mind wasn't hers. It was an old friend who was finally breaking out from her buried memories.

A year ago, she was 14 and an introverted kind of girl with no friends at school. Because of her good grades her classmates considered her a dork and distanced themselves from her.

But there was one girl, with purple short hair and black eyes, always dreaming to see the whole world. Her name was Yume.

She didn't remember how exactly they became friends. One thing she surely knew is that she approached her.

At first they would slack off. Usually bored of the small town they were living in, smoking together under a cherry blossom tree, discussing about the world they were living in.

One day, out of a sudden, they decided to run in the world. And they did. Perhaps they smoked or drank too much. Perhaps they were only bored: Yume was an orphan and Rilury felt like one, with her father who left when she was 8 and never gave any signs, and her mother always traveling abroad.

And so they did, just the two of them. With her spirit abilities that Rilury had, they managed to hide in a plane that went to Europe. The first thing they visited was not the Eiffel tower, neither Berlin or The Big Ben. It was a teknival.

There Rilury met a whole bunch of people which wanted to connect with the wild. They were accepting each other the way they were and living on unmaterialistic principles.

Bonding with the earth and sky, feeling the sunlight on their skin and borrowing the Earth's color.

They got themselves accepted by this kind of a group. After a few teknivals in the wildness, exploring the transilvanian forests, the Alps and the Balck Forrest, always changing the locations and sleeping in beautifully painted tents, Rilury was starting to feel a bit worried about her mother.

The group went to India, near Tibet. It was then, when on the Asian continent again, Rilury admitted her homesick to Yume. Even if her father wasn't from Japan, she still missed her home more than ever.

Yume achieved her dreams. She was happy there, but she also understood her friend. People were different because otherwise the world wouldn't have been as colorful as it is. And each one had a different path of happiness. Yume gave her two black starps carved with pastelized leaves.

"Go and be in peace Rilury. You are a star and I hope those strings will help you go up on the sky." She said and gave her a soft hug.

She went home, and there was her mother waiting for her. Presumingly she returned earlier from her trip. She only looked at her a bit frowned. Rilury was afraid and quietly awaiting to be scolded.

"Pack your things. We're moving to Tokyo."

That was the only thing Akira said. The big capital of Japan was also the place where her grandfather also lived and would usually train her in her short field trips, because her power was something the old man had much knowledge more than anyone else. And now she received a more intensive training. But when the Shaman Fight began, her mother forbade her to visit her grandpa anymore and also her entering in the contest. It was a bummer, and Akira answered shortly to her daughter's interminable questions:

"You are yet too weak. Those shamans aren't like those rave people you saw there. They would not hesitate to kill you."

Rilury remained then silent and accepted those barriers. She missed the Tournament, even if she wanted to participate in more than ever. She became lonely after then and wished herself that she never returned home.

And then, one day, she found the device of her mother, usually functioning like a GPS. It had the location already set, and she decided to run again from home.

But this time, she wished she never did. The choices she made by herself were always the worst. And now there was nothing she could change.

Another cigarette smoked. She always seemed the good girl type, and this vice probably didn't suit her. A cough broke from her lungs and she hit the ashtray from the railing.

The boy found in the desert. He was one of those shamans her mother told her about. He broke her trust and leaved her in her isolated mind.

It fell and torn into pieces. Her ashtray heart.

* * *

The two stars of destruction, Rago and Keito, appeared on the burdened black sky. Each one announcing that the fate of the world must be decided once again.

In Funbari Hills, a brown-haired boy, stargazing in the cemetery, smiled calmingly.

A little African girl saw the stars which were lightening a familiar figure's face, divinizing it again. It had the boy's same hair color and a warm smile.

"Hao-sama!" Opacho ran towards him. He felt relieved because she was the only lost friend Hao managed to find again.

A pack of cigarettes fell off the tile of the balcony. A gleaming of hope made Rilury's eye color more vivid than ever.

* * *

In the middle of the night, an old man received a visit from his granddaughter.

"What makes you think that I've changed my mind?" her mother asked coming from behind.

Rilury startled but she shortly regained her firm position.

"I'm sorry mother, but this time you can't tell me what to do anymore. Because now I have a reason to fight for and you cannot stop me no matter what you do."

"You want to fix a mistake, don't you?" she asked smirking.

She was afraid for a second, but then she let it go.

"What I want to do if none of your business, I can handle it myself."

Her mother watched her untouched as she made this rebellious act. She walked to her with an imposing figure. Then she sighed relieved.

"Finally, it was the time you would grow up."

"Eh?" Rilury asked surprised.

"Pfft, I outraged my mother when I was only thirteen! And I also ran in the world and had the guts to tell her so."

"Mom!" she said annoyed.

"Oh, there's nothing to be ashamed of. You did inherit a part of that wimp's genes." She laughed.

"Gah!"

"Now, now, stop being so beetle. You have a lot of training to recover!" she said, proudly smiling.

Rilury also smiled while being slowly chucked on her head.

She regained that assertive look and this time her eyes borrowed the light from the stars.

_To be continued..._

* * *

Yeah, after this chapter the true action will finally start. Sorry for those ones being so boring, but I first wanted to psichically prepare my characters for what's coming ;'D. Trust me, I have a looot prepared for them.


	7. Chapter 7: The Start

**Chapter VII**

**The Start**

It was a strange morning. Yoh was enjoying the last day of freedom, or maybe the last minutes, as he left quickly enough before Anna could give him some 10 pounds weights and make him run for at least 20 km, now that the Shaman Tournament has officially begun. It wasn't a shame though, as the stars showed up a few days before the beginning of school.

As he was walking down the blossomed path spreading the breeze of spring break, he stopped at the sight of a short guy running towards him. Manta had that kind of expression when he would unintentionally infuriate Anna, so Yoh was preparing for the collision as well.

But instead, behind his friend was a strange girl with her short hair all ruffled because of her eager temper, even though her expression looked more like one of the sociopaths willing to kill everything that simply exists.

"Come back here you little-! If you are running so fast, then why did you stalk me in the first place?"

It wasn't stalking, or at least it wasn't intended to be. This girl attracted Manta's attention for the second time simply by her nature. She didn't seem to compel with the crowd, and she was also emanating a strange amount of furyoku. But only this time, she caught his staring and went so straight to him, that all he could do was listen to his feet. At first it was just curiosity for her, but then it became dangerous eager mixed up with fury because of the continuously running.

"Yoh! Save me!" he said desperately hiding behind Yoh's back, or feet more exactly.

The girl suddenly stopped as she noticed Yoh's familiar figure. Rilury couldn't decide herself if there was a universal paradox or a doppelganger.

"You…look exactly like him…" she said not holding herself to point at him.

Yoh remained with an unchanged calmly surprised figure.

"Erm, do you mean my brother?" he knew exactly that it was him, as people would always react the same in the ST.

"What?! You are Hao Asakura's twin brother?"

She asked with emphasis mostly to shut up her inner reproach of not thinking of such a plausible answer in the first place.

Manta stood there as he watched the girl agitating herself. Now was his chance of making a more imposing impression to save himself from the trouble he's brought himself into.

"More exactly, was. This boy, defeated him long ago in the Shaman Tournament. If it wasn't for him, then Hao would have conquered the world and would have destroyed the human race!"

Rilury watched him in shock.

"Um, not really, Manta…"spoke Yoh a bit embarrassed. "I was just planning to tell you…"

"What?!"

"Hao came to our inn this morning to announce his return…I guess I kind of failed and we'll still have to put up with him, huh?" he said uselessly trying to give this discussion an amusing tone.

Manta entered in a shock state as his pupils were suddenly no more visible. Then he had a panic attack, not only because they were screwed once again, but also because of the strange calm Yoh had when saying this calamity announcement.

But more shocked of this outturn was Rilury, continuously asking herself:_'What have I done?'_

It wasn't until the boys noticed her when she perplexingly said:

"Umm…I-I need to go now, um… sorry for chasing you all over the town…uh-Bye!"

Then she would rapidly walk away but not before the twin asked her:

"Wait! What's your name?" he said with a warm greeting smile that made her confused and answered right away:

"Rilury. My name is Rilury Takahashi."

"Nice to meet you Rilury. My name is Asakura Yoh, and my friend is Manta."

She nodded and then ran away, thining about his welcoming and warm expression, that contrasted so much with the other twin's when they last saw each other…

* * *

In the evening, at the inn, Anna was bored and watching television while Yoh was trying to keep his chair position for three hours. He luckily was saved by the doorbell, as Manta was paying a visit to debate the actual critical situation they were in. Because of his concern he didn't observe a quiet stalker that was returning him the favor from this morning.

"IT'S THAT GIRL AGAIN!" Manta screamed, as he was preparing for another panic attack.

"Calm down little guy, I'm not here to beat you up." she said annoyed by his reaction, even if she didn't intend to do that in the morning.

After all, it took a lot of courage to even show up at their place. It was a tough decision she long debated before coming here. First of all, her old grandpa, even if he had a lot of knowledge of her techniques, wasn't actually a proper shaman. She needed a complete intensive training program, and Yoh was a strong shaman she sensed and could really help her. She did a huge mistake indeed, but she needed to fix it and the chances would rise if they would ally in defeating Hao. They could also hate her instead for bringing him back, but she could at least try to win their trust first.

"Oh, haven't been expecting you here, Rilury. Come in!" Yoh said smiling again so calm that made both her and Manta to have their doubts.

She bashfully entered the house and hesitated even more to make a move when she saw a blonde girl eating her chips in front of a TV.

"Who are you?" she asked, not removing her eyes from the screen.

"Oh, Anna, meet-"

"I wasn't talking to you" Anna said to Yoh categorically.

By her posture and attitude it was clear who was the boss around this house.

"Um, I'm Rilury Takahashi." she said a bit shy.

"Rilury? This name sounds invented." Anna said crossing her arms.

Rilury felt awkward but not ashamed of her name.

"It kind of is. I don't know what crossed my father's head when he gave it to me, and I'm even more clueless about my mother when she accepted it, but at least it sounds nice."

Anna had a short light amused smile.

"You are a shaman and you want to train in this house. Kind of suspicious reasons for you to come here, but I suppose Yoh could use this light competition to improve himself."

Rilury didn't know what to say anymore, as all of her plans have been spoiled. But at least she had an approvement without embarrassing herself too hard. Neither Yoh wasn't bothered by this unexpected wish of hers. He just cried a bit inside, as he knew that Anna would make the training even harder to test her determination and therefore make him put up with her or else he would be killed before the first fight.

* * *

One week of intensive training had passed. It was harder than Manta expected it to be, as he would always see Yoh wasted whenever he would meet him. The strange thing is that Rilury, as exhausted as her body was, always maintained her determined look and was asking Anna for extra hours and poor Yoh was obligated to do them as well. But Rilury would suddenly stop her training whenever she would notice him and go home, thing which she always did at the end of the day.

One day she came with her eyebags more purple than ever. As everybody was curiously looking at her, she smiled victorious and showed her oracle bell. Of course, after battling all night, she ended the training session earlier, thing which was a bliss for Yoh.

Yoh and Rilury didn't talk much in their training, as she was always concentrating on something that gave her a strong impulse to continue. Only at the beginning, as they would do the morning 35km running, they would usually have short talks from which they would learn different things about each other's lives, except of the ones Rilury preferred to keep a secret. This is how Rilury meet Yoh's friends as well.

First it was Tao Ren, a boy coming from a high ranked family but seeming to leave his superior attitude behind whenever he would talk in particular to Yoh. When she met him there was only silence after the introduction and a suspicious look hidden in his golden eyes.

One day the three of them were running alongside, as Ren wanted to discuss something quite important to Yoh. Actually, everybody was doing that if they wanted to talk to talk to Yoh more than 20 minutes.

"Now that Hao is back, I think we should deeply considerate taking high measures this time an establish a plan, or else our chances of becoming the Shaman King would be null." Ren said with a serious and hidden worried tone in his voice.

"Hmm...I don't think we could do anything right now.." Yoh said seeming not to give importance to this matter.

"It amuses me that you sound completely calm, as if nothing ever happened." said Ren ironically.

"It's not that...but all of our plans have failed before, and the only solution that worked came in the last moment. I think we will figure out what to do when time comes. Making ourselves worries right now, like all the other people burden in thoughts, won't change the situation. After all, everything will work out in the end." he said stopping for a moment and looking at the sky while stretching his back.

"You haven't changed a bit, Yoh." said Tao Ren crossing his arms and smiling a bit inside.

Rilury also stopped and realized that if she would tell her secret to Yoh, he wouldn't react so bad after all. As for the others, she still was unsure...This purple-haired boy didn't seem to have the same indulgence as him, especially with the people he's just met.

But on the whole, he seemed to be a normal person especially when they would have lunch together. Then it was Horohoro, a carelessly guy with blue spiky hair and Ryu, her first admirer ever who exposed his bursting admiration for a brief second before being punched by Ren.

All in all, that house had sort of a family atmosphere, something that was never present in her home. This usually made her spend her time with them more often, even is she actually was kind of an introvert type whenever she would enter a new group and it will defiantly take a while before she would accommodate herself and leave her shyness behind.

* * *

*Ring* *Ring*

Rilury's oracle bell rang. Of course, because she entered the Tournament for the first time, she had to go through the first round as well. Everybody from the table was staring at her, but she hesitated a bit before checking her opponent. She only had to win one fight, as by beating randomly chosed shaman that was already in the tournament would be enough to demonstrate her strength.

She picked the oracle bell and then dropped it on the table.

*Ring* *Ring*

The cracked display of an oracle bell suddenly brightened. The light could only illuminate in the dense darkness an outlined smirk.

Her first opponent was Hao Asakura.


	8. Chapter 8: No light

**Chapter VIII**

**No light**

Note: Alright, so I really wrote this chapter during the night o.o . For this I have a special song that I recommend you to play after the second line spacing: **Florence+The Machine: No light, no light**. I really accords to the atmosphere I wanted to create. If it ends before arrive at third line spacing, just replay :D. Btw, thanks for the reviews, let them keep coming! 3

Chapter warning: strong language

* * *

Smoking a cigarette was the only thing that could calm her down a bit. On the roof of the inn was plenty of silence and not even one question that would have popped up from their curious eyes.

That boy…was the last person she wanted to see in the next hour. He was probably somewhere evilly laughing like a maniac while she had to put up with his crap. That someone whom she thought of her friend and broke her trust within seconds…maybe not her trust in him, but in herself…the thought that what she did was the good thing to do and there was nothing to worry about….

She exhaled the smoke in a sigh.

"You know, smoking is bad for your health." said a voice behind her, more likely for the purpose to start a conversation.

Even if Yoh's face strongly resembled his, there was still that warm look in his eyes that was creating a strong discrepancy between him and Hao, or at least the one she has lastly seen.  
Rilury blushed a bit, not because of the bad habbit, but because she was actually sitting on the roof of their house and it seemed a bit impolite to disappear from the dinning room only to so something that could irritate others.

"Um, sorry" she said, fully destroying the cigarette with a bit a lightning from her hands.

"I don't mind. After all, my brother isn't an easy challenge." he said, looking a bit worried at the starlight sky.

'_Does this have a subliminal message?' _she asked herself, looking a bit curious at his profile.

"Well, there is no turning back now." she said, moreover to reassure herself that.

"I though that you wouldn't give up so easily after your hard training.." he said, with his smile suddenly disappearing from his face. "But you know, Hao is really strong, and I would be really sad if you'd be gone, now that everybody likes you here."

"They do?" she asked curiously.

"Sure! Even if most of the time you're quiet, everybody is talking about you and really want to get to know you better," Yoh said smiling again.

"Hmm…too bad I'm gonna have to leave now. But it will be for a short while" she said, suddenly standing up.

"Hey Rilury, if you want I could come with Faust. In this way I would distract him while he'd be resurrecting you." Yoh said before she could jump off the roof.

"Thanks, but I won't need your help. After all, that bastard owes me his life." she said before leaving with a tiny grin on her face. Yoh remained a bit surprised, but then started to smile again.

* * *

_*don't forget about the song_

She though she'd be late, but at the place of the battle was just Kalim, the one that had to observe the Shaman Fight. Of course, he was also the Patch Officiant that tested her to get her first oracle bell. Just a few attacks before she could clearly observe her oversoul technique and all done. After all, she had even harder training sessions with…

After all, where was he? It was starting to get late, and she knew that Hao wouldn't miss this fight for nothing in the Universe, even if it really didn't affect his participation in the Tournament.

Huge flames burst out of nowhere and the Spirit of Fire rose from the depths and out of them...walked him, with the same superior look he had when he left.

"Never miss the chance to make a great entrance, huh?" she asked ironically.

"First impression is quite important, isn't it?" he asked with a smirk.

She realized quickly the direct attack he made, especially that there weren't just the two of them. She then pulled out the wolfram sword.

"Well then stranger, how about ending this fight as quick as possible?" she said making a brutal direct attack which Hao blocked easily with the arm of the Fire Spirit.

"Aren't we a bit too impatient?" he asked jumping standing in one opened palm of the spirit. "Maybe first we should start knowing each other better."

"I have nothing to say to you" she said and then made quickly another attack jumping directly at the spirit, thing which made it even easily to block it. Rilury was pressing with the edge of her electric sword the red fluorescent finger that was blocking less than one metter between them, making her eyes sparkle even more in the collision of the both lights.

"You haven't even told me your name." he smirked.

She quickly erased her expression with a mixture of both surprise and guiltiness with an annoyed one.

"Oh, cut the crap!" she said and then jumped away. While still in the air she rotated herself in the air sketching with her sword in the air the form of a bright helix. The beaming spiral, while aiming at the Fire Spirit, was forming the shape of an arrow peak to be aerodynamic and therefore even faster. The collision created a dense smoke from which bumped electric fireworks. Rilury landed on her feet on top of tall rock to see if it had damaged Hao somehow. The large claw of the FS cut the smoke in half and there he was, not even a scratch.

"I'm waiting for the next move" he ironically said, knowing that there wasn't anything else she had.

"Hmph, don't get too distracted " she smashed the top of her sword into the ground. It cracked from the inside and huge sparks were rapidly making cracks in the ground, like there was a huge earthquacke, and then it exploded right underneath him. Instead of jumping, Hao quickly contra- attacked with a huge ball of fire, thing which Rilury managed to avoid at the last second with a shock wave that propelled her in the air.

"Not bad" he said from behind before having the Spirit Fire trying to grab her. But a bolt of light splintered the sky with a deafening thunder. The violent flash distracted the spirit so Rilury escaped from the unexpected inflamed grip.

"Are there anymore surprises left in the box?" he asked smirking.

There weren't. But that didn't mean she was out of furyoku.

She must combine the moves. But she first needed to buy some time, as the SoF was now constantly attacking her. It was kind of unexplainable why it entered the offensive mode so quickly, especially because Hao wanted to enjoy every second of it. Before, at their trainings, it could endure at least 5 shocking spirals before she ran out of furyoku. But she herself noticed that those attacks made even a greater damage and her furyoku has also increased in a very short amount of time.

Hao was calmly sitting on its shoulder, waiting for her to be grabbed by its immense claw, just like a fish in the lodge. She knew that the only way to distract the GoF was approaching Hao, as he was sitting on a spot it would take a bit concentration to manage, just like a mosquito. She jumped forward but this time she shut of her sword to make it even harder for the Fire Spirit to fix its watch on. Even Hao was a bit surprised as she approached him deffenceless and didn't have time to react. She put her arms on his shoulders. There were only a few inches left between their faces. Rilury had her electric sparkle in her eyes and was too concentrated on her move to notice the slight skin tone color change underneath Hao's eyes, which were widely opened in shock. This only lasted a brief second, as she propelled herself even higher in the sky.

The second he remained unmoved from the spot and even confused his guardian spirit was the moment she needed. After releasing another electric spiral from her sword she rose it in the sky and created another bright lightning. The two modelings of electrical energy combined themselves and formed something like a giant golden sparkling hook coming right from the heavy clouds, trying to hand the victim.

Maybe it would have worked if Hao didn't reject the attack by creating an encountering wave of flames. The collision came in a wonderful and powerful blast, hardly damaging the surroundings.

They were both standing now at the opposite sides of the devastated field. Kind of ironic for her, because she always loved nature and somehow she destroyed the area just like the ones who were once threatening the forest she lived in.

She was gasping and Hao only released a short breath, or was it just an impression?

"Kind of stubborn for a new initiated." he said revealing his old smirk. "Isn't your first fight a bit disappointing, knowing that you're almost out of furyoku and your attacks had no effects?"

"It did had a few damages!" she said looking at the FS who was a bit scattered." But, as always, you are just showing off with your shamanic strength and stuff"

"Hmm, isn't it a bit too early to judge a stranger?" he said giving her a sly look.

She felt a bit embarrassed in front of Kalim who was recovering himself from the shock of the battle with an even bigger shock because of Rilury answering Hao on that tone.

But, as she couldn't endure constant pressure, she exploded.

"Oh, shut the hell up! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be alive and this stupid fight wouldn't have taken place for me!"

"Actually, not any other shaman fight would.." he said smirking.

She frowned and chattered her teeth in anger.

"WELL, YEAH! I WOULDN'T BE IN THIS F*UCKING TOURNAMENT I ALWAYS DREAMED OF!"

She then gasped calming herself with a deep breath.

"So yeah, thanks for that. But you still are a jerk and I still want to end this battle for screwing all my chances of making new friends now. That's right Kalim! I SAVED HAO ASAKURA FROM DEATH! It was me who welcomed him in my own home and wanted even to be friends! " she said out loudly to the Patch Officiant who was watching witch a surprised expression, but till scared to death to say anything . "You can all boo me later for screwing the whole planet after I finish him in this battle."

Hao was watching her and even let out a short chuckle.

"I appreciate the honesty, but it is obvious that you can't defeat me, not even if you would attack me with all your moves combined." he said bringing back his smirk.

"Oh yeah? I have a card up on my sleeve. I saved it for a spectacular final!"

She then made the wolfram brighten again. But this time it wasn't a sword shaped form. It was somehow like a Tesla coil. Each electric spike was hitting one point, enlarging it in a bigger form, like a whole. There were a six number of brightening mini portals which were forming a hexagon. It was the hardest move she would do, but it was the most powerful, even if she still didn't know how to maneuver it right. Rilury was heavily concentrating her furyoku in a final attack, when a risen hand interrupted the whole process and also decided the result of the battle. It was Hao's.

"I give up." he said with a careless voice.

"You-WHAT?!" the other two voices asked in shock, well, at least one of them. The other one was also a bit angry.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? I refuse to fight anymore. If you manage to make this last attack, which will have no effect of course, you will consume all of the furyoku and instantly lose."

"But why-"

"It was fun messing around with you for a while, and even if you quite evolved from the last time we've met, you still hadn't come up to your fully potential. And it would be a pity if you wouldn't be in the Shaman Tournament, considering all those weaklings that are already in. Isn't that right, Kalim?"

The Path Officiant recovered from the shock to give a proper answer from his position.

"Ehm, of course- *coughs*. Takahashi Rilury is officially in the Tournament!"

"What? I am?!" she said with her mouth wide open from heaven.

" Just consider it as a favor return. After all, there is no chance you would have even made one scratch with that ridiculously technique."

"What?! You basta-aard!" she angrily said while the bright hexagon contuored itself again.

"Wait! There is no need to-!" Th Patch Officiant said before a bright yellow blast emerged from the center of the geometrical shape.

There was a violent light. And a sudden blackout in Rilury's head.

* * *

The sunrise was slowly illuminating the Asakura's house. Before it touched Rilury's hair, two scratched arms, which have been carrying her all the way here, gently placed her on the bed. The calm silence in the room was broken when Yoh opened the door.

"I hope you don't mind if I brought someone to sleepover. After all, this is also my house." Hao said not even bothered by his brother's presence.

"Um, sure, she was always welcomed to stay here from the beginning." Yoh said a bit surprised of the guest, but still not considering the situation too incredible.

"Make sure she gets plenty of rest. And after that, spare me an effort and show her where the Tournament location is. I don't want to waste anymore time on the road like I did with you, Yoh." He said with a superior gleam in his eyes.

"Sure thing-"

Hao disappeared in a burst of flames leaving a small ashtray on the floor.

"Nii-san..." Yoh ended his response.

It was actually the first time they had a talk without thinking about the fate of the world.


	9. Chapter 9: The Journey begins!

**Chapter IX**

**The Journey begins!**

**Author notes:** Thank you for the reviews, I'm glad to see that others appreciate my ideas of continuing the anime story! And sorry for the wrong location at the beginning! I just changed the location with the one from the manga, because the one from the anime is a bit uncertain. I am somehow trying to introduce some elements from the manga, because I simply love it.

Oh, and sorry for the language mistakes, I am also trying to improve myself and somehow edit the chapter before posting it...he-he...

Enjoy my longest chapter so far! Sorry, but I first needed to partially establish some things, I don't like it when they don't logically connect and now the situation is a bit more explained (or at least in my head... )

* * *

The sun was already on top of the blue arcade of the sky. Rilury woke up having a neck ache, because the pillow she was sleeping on was too hard. And then she realized: it wasn't her pillow. The strange silence outside and the architectural style made her realize that it also wasn't her room.

As she was going down the stairs, thinking about a plausible explanation, she noticed Kalim sitting in the living room with everyone gathered around him, probably listening to what happened last night. Did he bring her here? But a Patch Tribe Officiant shouldn't interfere or even help the participants in any way. And now she realized, she was actually in the Shaman Tournament. But the glimpse of joy was suddenly swept by a frowning when remembering HOW she actually got in the tournament. And then full embarrassment when she realized WHAT she actually said… therefore it was defiantly time to leave as silent as a ninja from that place.

"Leaving so soon?" the voice of a blonde girl was heard behind her, as she just opened the window.

"I was thinking to at least spare your efforts of kicking out an uninvited person, he-he" Rilury said, awkwardly smiling.

"Your presence isn't unexpected. My fiancée saw you from the beginning when he brought you here."

"Who? Kalim?"

Anna had a light smirk and instead of answering, said:

"Don't you want to hear first what he at least has to say? You can stay more here if you want, as long as you cook dinner."

"Mm, okay, then one minute and I'll disappear immediately after I set the kitchen on fire" she jokingly said, and Anna had a light smile but Rilury was uncertain whether she made a good joke or was just plainly acting stupid in front of her.

She then headed to eavesdrop a bit before she could decide to enter the discussion.

" The point is," Kalim said, "that she would defiantly be a good helper when needed in the ultimate battle"

"What could make you think that we could trust her?" Ren asked being suspicious from the very beginning. Rilury was in the Tournament because of Hao, and Kalim was defiantly omitting some parts from the battle.

"One thing is clear. Even if she is acting impulsively and nearly killed me, she has a pure sincerity and now she is clearly our ally."

"If what you say it's true, then it must be a trap. That guy certainly has a plan and wouldn't stain his reputation for nothing. Even so, I think the rules of this preliminary round for the new shamans are stupid. Why can't only the winner participate in the tournament? If there were exactly like the last time, we could have figured out clearly his intentions and also, things would have been more interesting." He said, without his expression being changed.

"Ren!" Ryu said feeling offended by his arrogance. "How could you say that knowing that that beautiful lady could have gotten hurt, or even worse!" he said with the tears flowing from his eyes like the Niagara Falls.

"What you say is true" Kalim said to Ren, ignoring Ryu. "But, knowing what happened in the last Tournament, we offered everyone the chance to rebuild their team."

"So what you say is…" Ren said with an even more suspicious look.

"That's right. You defeated Luchist Lasso, didn't you? So The Red Star Team is incomplete."

"But you said that we can trust her!" Horohoro exploded not standing the tension of the discussion.

"Hm, I can't predict what her actions will be in the future. But considering her now, her power is actually quite formidable. As you know, a Nearly Death Experience increases a shaman furyoku. Rilury managed to damage somehow the Spirit of Fire, considering that Hao's currently furyoku level is 1,5 million."

Everyone was astonished and also a bit brought down. Excepting Yoh. He was actually impressed and his curiosity was woken up by Rilury's technique.

"But her furyoku isn't that great. She barely reaches 60.000" Yoh said enthusiastically wanting to continue. "This means her spirit's reiyoku (_means spirit power/energy_) is…"

"Beyond one million for sure." Kalim completed.

"This can't be possible!" Horohoro burst again."If the difference is so huge then she would have died by now!"

Rilury's eyes became blank. Die? There were so many things she was unconsciously doing. She clearly didn't have any idea what a being a shaman means.

"That's the puzzle. She actually manages to release small amounts of energy, and that explains why she can hardly control her attacks. But what is eluding me is actually how she can maintain a contact with such a powerful spirit, is the entity isn't even fully present?"

A silence left for thinking was surrounding the dinning table. That's when Rilury knew to interfere, because, judging from what she heard, it was clearly that Kalim hadn't mentioned that part when Rilury confessed everything. Maybe he first wanted to profit as much as possible from the fact that she doesn't yet know what to do, thing which actually bothered her. So she entered the room being with a strong imposing confidence.

"All right, so you seem to know much more about me than even myself. That is quite funny, but I am the one that plays with the lightning, you know? So yeah, before I'll decide whether to help you or not, first thing, I need to ask something…"

"What is it?" Kalim said, trying to hide the shock that she overheard everything they've said.

"What on earth means reiyoku and where the hell is my spirit?!"

Everybody crashed in shock of an amusing disappointment, even if the second question, although the serious tone was ruined by the first one, was actually quite important and nobody knew the answer.

* * *

"America! The land of the stars!" Rilury exclaimed more for herself, as she saw the vast continent from above the private jet of the Tao family. It seems like they headed right for the Patch Village after that day of gibbering and making futile plans to defeat the evil, thing which was nice, because she has never traveled over the Pacific Ocean before.

"I'm meeting Tom Cruise right away!" Anna jokingly said acting like a cool person and putting her sunglasses on.

"He-he, Johnny Depp is mine!" Rilury continued and also put her sunglasses on, embracing a star-like attitude, even if at first she used stars as a metaphorical way of saying those who achieved their dreams.

"What's with you? They are too old to for you to even think something like that!" Manta shouted and soon received a hit in the head by Anna.

"We were just joking…" Anna said on a disturbed tone.

"What kind of humor is that?!" Manta said for himself while crying in pain with a big red bump on his head.

* * *

A lot of people were already waiting in front of the Patch Village. Why would nobody enter? They seized a strong furyoku around the sealed gates, on which was just a poorly written sign "We are closed for maintenance. Thank you for your patience"

"What!? The Patch Tribe have always had a shitty organisation!" Horohoro shouted, thing which led them be recognized by Chocolove and Lyserg.

"Hey guys! Long time no see, eh?" greeted them Lyserg with a smile.

"No fishes, no sea!" greeted Chocolove with a lame joke as always, thing which made Ren and Horohoro beat him like in the good old days.

Lyserg's smile was shortly interrupted by a brief curious look when he saw Rilury confusingly watching the three guys beating for no reason.

"Oh, I suppose you're new in the Tournament?" Lyserg asked her.

"Um yeah, my name is Takahashi Rilury and I…"

"She's our new friend" Yoh completed her.

"A friend of Yoh is also a friend of mine" smiled Lyserg while making a slight reverence.

"Wait a second, that gesture…You're English right?" Rilury asked enthusiastically. "Great, we can both speak in your native language then!"

"Do you also come from England?" Lyserg asked in english happily.

"No, but my father does. And now I've found a good opportunity to practice my language skills again!" Rilury also responded happily.

"It's not time for blabbering, you guys!" interfered Horohoro. "Right now we have a serious problem! The Patch Village is closed and we yet don't know what to do!"

"What a good spirit of observation you have, Horohoro!" said ironically a familiar voice.

"Hao!" Lyserg and Rilury muttered simultaneously.  
He was surrounded by his old followers, and even some new faces. Luchist was also there, alive, thing which made Tao Ren shocked.

"I thought I defeated that guy once and for good!" Ren said being quite angry, but maintaining the same tone of his voice.

"Oh, I thought of resurrecting some of my old companions, since The Red Star Team was initially incomplete."

"Wait, I thought…" said Rilury before stopping to say something that would make her look even more suspicious.

She thought he wanted her in his team. She would have never joined, of course, but the simple thought would have flattered her once in a while, especially after all that happened.

Hao suddenly smirked. Damn, she forgot that he could read thoughts! Sometimes she wished she could stick her head in the sand, just like an ostrich…

Before anybody could say something, a sandstorm came and the sky blackened itself. Then, from the centre of the cloud vortex, a bright circle appeared and out of it descended a blonde-haired woman wearing a Patch Tribe poncho, but only formally, as the dark-blue one-piece suit she usually wore could be seen under the fluttering cloth.

"My, my, looks like a lot of eager participants are willing to put their hands on the Great Spirit."

Everybody was wondering who that woman was, as they never seen her before.

"Is she a new Patch Member?" Chocolove asked curiously.

"No, she is actually my mother." Rilury said embarrassed, but also surprised as she hadn't being expecting her to be here.

"Alright, you pathetic people hungry for infinite power, as you can see, you came too early at this place, son stop sending us continuously complaints through the leaf spirits, they are quite annoying!" Akira said on an annoyed voice while landing on a cliff.

Everybody's reaction was of consternation and the crowd became agitated.

"You really take after her" Hao said with a smile.

Rilury, feeling annoyed, made a few steps near him.

"Oh just…

"Shut up!" Rilury's voice was covered by her mother's stronger one, thing which made her blush like a tomato.

"There was indeed a limited date on the oracle bell. And today is the day. After all, I didn't say you're not in time for the second preliminary round…" she said while smirking.

Glowing lines were defining themselves under the sand, shaping a huge circle containing ancient symbolic shapes. Everybody realized that they were actually standing on a portal that was starting to function. The dazzling light spread all over the area, teleporting everyone to a mysterious place…

* * *

Rilury was lying on the ground, when a leaf spirit came and played a recording of her mother's voice, thing which made her immediately wake up.

"Attention shamans! You are now in the Eden Garden, or more like paradise intermediate place between the spirits and the material world. This is the second preliminary round. The Garden is as vast as the Amazon, so the best chances are that you will find the person that was the closest standing next to you. Even if you find each other, I suggest you could work together in order to search for the nearest gate away point. But, from my point of view, you can just eliminate each other to give us less head aches.

All in all, the time you have is just of three days. This is the maximum time your material body can resist in this world."

Rilury stood up and wanted to leave as she couldn't stand hearing her mother's voice anymore.

"Not so fast, parasites! This round is made only to test YOUR strength of the spirit. In this world, you can't use your guardian spirit."

"What?!" Rilury asked herself. "Curse you mother, who left you in charge!?"

She then sat deceived on a rock.

The surroundings were although beautiful. The exotic plants were imposing with their huge multi-colored flowers amplified by the emerald green of the grass. It was like being in a tropical forest, only there was more space between the tall trees and the strange thing was there were no birds singing, even if the white sun made of spirit energy was spreading its light for all the living things which also didn't seem to make their presence noticed even by sounds.

Although everything seemed to be material, she sensed that it was all entirely made by spirits. They were all making oversouls with the earth, the only thing that actually seemed to be real. But was this soil made out of a once existing forest, which perished a long time ago? This thought saddened her.

It was clearly why they couldn't use their Guradian spirits. Every shaman was unconsciously making an oversoul with his own spirit, using his bodies, therefore maintaining the material state of the human flesh.

"But still, how am I going to find the needle in the hay all by myself?!" Rilury said out loudly in desolation.

"Hmm, maybe you could be my comrade" Hao said leaning on the trunk of a baobab, already having that superior look.

"You!"

"At first I thought you would be useless here, but considering that you figured the Eden's spirit system all by yourself, maybe you deserve a chance." He said purposely on an arrogant tone.

"It's because of you we both ended up here! If you hadn't annoyed me, I would be next to that innocent boy, Lyserg, and surely by this time we would have found a way out!"

"Hmph." Hao said with his expression changed. "That naïve boy? Oh well, then good luck finding a way out all by yourself!" he carelessly said and then started to walk away.

"Not so fast!" Rilury said and grabbed his arm. "It's _your_ fault so therefore _you_ are going to help me pass this round!" she added categorically.

Hao smirked. She then rapidly took her hand off his arms, suddenly realizing what she did, and removed her embarrassment with a determined look in her eyes.

"I guess it would be less boring if you'd come along"

"So we're officially partners! But only for those three days!" Rilury gladly said offering her hand for a formal handshake, to officialize the pact.

"Just like in the old days, huh?" Hao said on a calmly voice with a little tone of nostalgia.

Rilury blushed and suddenly retrieved her hand, turned her back and rapidly walked in front of him.

Only for three days…She didn't want to risk her entrance in the Shaman Tournament, and any help was welcomed. After all, maybe his intention of eradicating the humans was bad, but he was the only person she actually had the chance to get to know somehow. He might have been acting like a spoiled brat recently, but she couldn't stop considering him somehow…a friend.

And for now, she didn't have to think about the fate of the world. For now, all she had to do was to survive with him in a forest.

"_Maybe it'll really be like in the old days" _Rilury thought and a smile bloomed on her lips, while continuing to calmly walk ahead.


	10. Chapter 10: Wild rapture

**Chapter X**

**The wild rapture**

This chapter was longer than I thought , so forget what I said about the previous one o.o. I posted it right away after I finished, but don't worry, will edit it later ^_^

As for this chapter, I also have a catchy song to play right away : **Russian Red - No Past Land. **Just keep it till it ends and play it again! It creates a nice atmosphere for reading the whole chapter! I also strongly recommend to read the lyrics after you finish reading it, as I consider them as a beautiful matching poem!

Enjoy and please review!

* * *

_*you can play the music now _

Yoh was lying on the grass, enjoying the fresh breeze, a savior from the heat of the ball of light. After 5 minutes of calmly listening the leaf spirit playing the recording, he got up, admiring the surrounding. With a smile he then proceeded to walk in a random direction.

This round seemed to be quite interesting and maybe the most difficult regarding the shaman himself. He realized it wasn't going to be an easy task, because after all, the Eden Garden was a semi-part of the spirit world, meant to strengthen the most important characteristic of a shaman: his bond with the nature. Although the spirits were making oversouls with their carbon residues, all the nature elements were present: water, earth, air, fire… He knew that those who would manage to come back will become stronger and increase their furyoku.

But Yoh enjoyed spending his time in the nature. All he needed to do was to find an escape before the normal human body would yield because of the lack of food. But of course, many shamans wouldn't notice their physiological needs because the spirit is trying to stay bonded with it through its own furyoku. Still, he wasn't hurrying. Actually, he somehow has wanted to seek this opportunity for a long time: a break from the hellish training he endured in the last weeks.

A rustle and then all his chances of relaxing were brutally destroyed by her presence.

"Anna!" he said in somehow a shock, because she wasn't supposed to be here.

"I suppose you don't have any clue about what's going on, do you?" Anna asked on a serious tone. "It seems like the new organizer didn't take into account the fact that there were people who didn't participate in the Tournament."

"It seems like we had bad luck, he-he…" Yoh ulessly tried to cheer her up, because she clearly seemed to be pissed and he knew that at any time she would go off on him with a deadly hit, with or without the shinigamis.

"But wait…if you are also here…then where is Manta?"

A leaf spirit which was passing by, transmitting the standard recording, was captured in a second in Anna's palm. She then combined it with a pearl from her necklace. Out of nowhere appeared something like a hologram, showing Akira in foreground with little Manta who just woke up from fainting.

"Who the hell is disturbing me at this hour? It is forbidden to give any information about-

Ah, it's you…" Akira said with a little frown upon her eyes.

"What's the meaning of all this?." Anna promptly said.

"Oh well, your furyoku level is indeed high if you managed to make a smaller additional oversoul. Perhaps that is also the reason why I thought you were also a participant. Luckily I've managed to save your friend in the last second, because he is really weak."

"Hey! I almost entered that labyrinth of death because of you!" Manta shouted from the back, being reduced to silence by a cloth which tied itself on his mouth.

"I don't have either furyoku or time to waste. Get me out of here." She plainly requested.

"Well, I could call off the entire Round for a small mistake or…if you also participate in this round and manage to get out of here, we'll be offering you free rooms in a four-star hotel and also free meals for the entire duration of the Shaman Fight." Akira said with her typical voice of making business. Anna was unimpressed.

"And a compensation of 10.000 yen." She said in defeat.

"I've heard enough" Anna said and broke her mini-oversoul. "Come on Yoh, let's go"

"Hai!" Yoh approved her with a smile noticing that she wasn't upset anymore and then went ahead.

"Wait! I'm sure there are plenty of rocks we can tie up to your wrists before we head off."

"But…Anna.." Yoh pleaded her with a tearfall under his eyes.

"*Sigh*, I was just joking. We can't risk loosing more energy than necessary, especially now that we only have three days to find a getaway."

"Thank you" Yoh mumbled to the divinity that from time to time it would save him from the hellish training. On rare occasions though, but still…

"Besides…" Anna went with her steps ahead "As you fiancée, there's a long time you haven't taken me out on a proper date." She showed a light mysterious smirk and then continued to move on.

After a short puzzled expression, Yoh warmly smiled looking at her back and followed the way.

* * *

"We are just heading nowhere! This is the same rock I sat on half an hour ago!" Rilury finally said breaking the silence that fell over them since they began walking.

"That's because you took the lead, didn't you?" Hao said calmly. "Also, your mind was full of thoughts so you probably weren't paying attention on the direction you were going."

"And judging by the fact that you haven't said anything, you were just pleased to listen to them, right?" she said irritated.

"They were quite funny. The most amusing part was the fact that you stood 15 minutes of questioning yourself before admitting that we're lost."

"At least I was making an effort. Why don't you give it a try, since you are acting so superior and stuff…"

"Actually, I don't know the way out either." Hao carelessly responded.

"Hah!" she said victorious.

"That's because it would take at least one month before arriving to the real exit. And you could do that only if you were in the spirit form. " he added, thing which annoyed Rilury again.

"Hmh, seems like you have experience traveling even here." She changed her expression with an enigmatic look. "Tell me…I which afterlife was it?" she said with a smirk.

"Well, I see you've finally done your research" he said adopting the same look, but only a bit darker.

"It is a matter-of-course…"

"_Since you broke my trust from the beginning."_

She couldn't stop that thought, thing which made Hao smirk. She instinctively avoided eye-contact, since she left herself exposed due to her weakness.

"I don't think relying on someone matters. What you call trust are only some prejudiced expectations that will obviously be broken, because the person doesn't know the other as well as he thought.

Anyway, what we are counting here on is mutual help. Just like in the nature, where some bacterias are helping other plants to extract some substances from the soil. It's humanly typical to expect more and take everything for granted."

Hao said all that with no trace of sadness and his eyes became cold, even if he was still smiling.

Rilury gave up in finding contra-arguments, as they wouldn't change his perception.

"All right then…So you needed me for something." She said on a serious tone.

"Not particularly. But as much as I love spending time here, we can't afford losing our chances. You see, each gate away portal can be used only once."

"So?"

"They are practically furyoku batteries using the same technique as your mother's."

"And I can detect them with less amount of energy. And all I need to do is?"

"Perspicacious, but naïve at the same time" Hao smiled.

"Just tell me already before I change my mind" Rlury started to get pissed again.

But she calmed down while hearing his explanations. She then plunged her hand in the ground and concentrated herself. She mentally followed a slight pattern of light, leading to…

"A hideout in the savana?"

"Just as I thought. They wouldn't have made this task so easy."

* * *

"Akira, it seems that we have a problem." One of the Patch member, Silva, approached her while she was having a chit-chat with Manta explaining him about this probe.

"I know." She said after she sighed.

"It isn't about the contestants. It is about the Philosopher Stone. Somebody got it somehow infiltrated in the Eden."

"I said that I already know." Akira said flatly. "What an unexpected surprise, to find something that was thought to be lost for thousands of years…and also during the Shaman Fight. So convenient…." She said a bit bothered by this fact.

"Goldva ordered this probe to be interrupted."

"I don't care what that old man said. It was part of the deal.

And after all, the spirits there are too simple. It's a good thing that I've blocked all the contacts with the external guardian spirits" She smirked.

It will just be a pity if someone would stumble upon it…"

* * *

"So, what are you saying is that the diurnal animals are only the predators?"

"You've noticed the strange silence. Animals have spirits too, and they can also end up in constant loops of their behavior in the nature. "

"Hm, so I suppose they've placed it right in the middle of them."

"Hmph. Be prepared to meet another side of the wildness you're used living in. "

"Stop talking like you're knowing me, Hao" Rilury seriously responded, and then walked to the source of the portal light.

* * *

In the open field, the tall grass was a perfect environment for the fiercest creatures to hide and hunt their prey. Even if there was no herbivore around and they didn't need to eat, they were prisoners of their instincts. Calmly hiding, a prehistoric tiger was hardly enduring the waiting to tear with his tusks the flesh of the two human bodies that were walking in the open field.

But then, it came. The tiger ran away, as something else was declaring its property.

"Look! It's running!" Rilury said, although they both noticed the tiger before.

"Of course. It would have been too easy." Hao said with a grimace, enthusiastic for a challenge. "Look ahead."

And there it was. The pterodactyl monster was flying above them.

"Wasn't this supposed to be in another period?" she asked surprised.

"The species is at the border, and those spirits sometimes get lost" *

It suddenly plunged quickly for a direct attack.

Hao was even quicker and easily blocked it with a wooden stick from a teak. Rilury also had one, since its wood was known to be the toughest tree.

The pterodactyl was thrown back in the sky, just like a boomerang. Then it leaned for the weaker prey.

Rilury was waiting for it. She stood there unmoved, adopting a tai chi position. Then she redirected the attack in a simple wave movement, rotating her body and throwing the reptile out with the help of the centrifuge force, thing which made it collapse on the ground.

"Quite impressive" Hao said with a pleased expression.

"It's not defeated yet." Rilury said, waiting for its next move.

A deafening sound of an earthquake. What was happening?

The pterodactyl suddenly abandoned the fight, and it flew really high in the sky in a matter of seconds, to avoid the dangerous creature that was approaching.

"This is strange. I never felt such a high spirit pressure in this place." Hao said enigmatically.

Then it revealed itself. A monster as big as a tank. It was more exactly a chimera, with the furious expression of a grizzly bear with the mane of a lion. The body was huge, as it was all covered with harsh long fur and it had the terrifying claws that could smash the human body within seconds.

Rilury was astonished. The strange part that she noticed was that in the middle of the forehead, between the two horns, there was something blue glowing with intensity.

"The Philosopher Stone" Hao responded her thoughts. "Of course, that's the only explanation for such a powerful creature to exist here." He had a grimace and in his eyes was a strange sparkle.

The chimera, which was standing on its two feet, suddenly put its anterior members on the ground. The earth shook and made Rilury to fell down on the earth, as she wasn't prepared for that huge collision. That was the opportunity the monster was waiting for, as it was quickly heading for a fierce attack.

One unforgivable mistake. She can't avoid it fast enough.

The immense claws were stopped in the middle of the air, just one second before the hit.

Something blocked it. It was a teak stick that was starting to break under the immense pressure. It was Hao who protected her.

They both jumped aside before the stick would break in half, causing the creature to crash on the ground, which split in craters.

"That was close." Hao said with his expression unchanged, although his eyes caught a slight glimpse of worry."Too bad I'm now left unarmed." He added in a bored disappointment.

"Not really." Rilury said, quickly recovering from the shock.

She pulled out a dagger with tribal inscriptions on its handle.

"I found this accidentally when I was in an expedition in Africa with my father, although I was quite young and I vaguely remember it. I want you to have it in return for saving me."

Hao looked at her a bit unceirtain and then smiled.

"I'm flattered, but for the moment I'll just borrow it, thanks. Now all we need to do is reach that stone."

Rilury still looked at the pterodactyl which was still on the sky, waiting for the battle to finish and feast from the corpse remains.

"You can still form oversouls in here, right?" she asked with a grin.

"I already read the plan in your head. It could work, actually." He smiled pleased.

"All right, since you have more furyoku than I do, I'm going to distract that will-o'-the-wisp."

Without even waiting for his answer she headed for the monster by plunging herself with the help of the stick, landing with a hit on the monster's left foot.

It groaned and tried to hit her with its claw. She bend over and hit it on the right foot. Even the effects were only to annoy it, she still made the creature hurt its knee with its immense claw, thing which infuriated it even more.

Then it stood up in two legs again and wrapped itself over to squash the annoying human. Rilury managed to escape the grip just in time, by maintaining a brief saving gap with the stick, thing which made it break as well.

The creature rolled over and smashed the earth again. It laid for a second on its back, enough to notice Hao approaching. He was flying because he formed a temporary oversoul with the pterodatyl, using the dagger.

The monster stood up and wanted to brutally hit the flying pest. It raised its both claws to form a grip with no escape…

Then its whole body paralyzed in an electric shock. Rilury also froze on the same position with her arms stretched in an attempt to do something.

Hao was also surprised. But then he changed his expression with a frown. He disrupted the oversoul. He landed right on the monster forehead, with the dagger plunged near the blue glowing stone.

After a second, the whole creature exploded in lots of tiny spirits which were spreading freely in the air.

He walked out from the storm of dust that formed, but he had no expression.

"It seems like the spirits combined were even weaker than I thought." He said thoughtfully while manufacturing something in his hands, but it was too much dust to see what he was doing.

"Tell me, Rilury, do you still feel it?" he suddenly asked.

She then realized that there was no more portal in the surrounding. Somebody must have already used it while they were concentrating on the fight. And she was also in lack of furyoku, as that attack she made consumed fifty times more furyoku than it usually does in the real world.

She felt exhausted and also deceived.

"There is nothing we can do now. We must continue our searching." He said while giving the dagger back to Rilury.

But she didn't took it.

"I said it's a gift that you must accept" She categorically said being disrupted from the whole shock.

"Well, if you insist…I also have something for you." he smiled mysteriously.

He then went behind her and she remained surprised as she felt the blue stone touching the skin under her neck.

"Wait, I cannot accept that!" she said with her eyes shocked.

"You must." Hao said while finishing tying the necklace. "This stone is almost useless in the material world, but here it will maintain your level of furyoku. You shouldn't have wasted it in the first place."

"But you also did-"

"I'm left with 600.000. I think I can do with that." He said with a smirk.

"Ha-ha, let's act all superior about the one who saved you." she said a bit pissed.

"I would have escaped easily."

"Yeah right, and I am an extra-terrestrial being who came to conquer the whole world." She ironically said.

"Would you like to join forces, then?" he said with an evil look.

She laughed.

"Oh, cut it out!" she happily said. "It's already the sunset, this fight took the whole day!" she stretched. "Does it happen for you to also know a perfect place for camping?" she asked with a grin.

"As a matter a fact, I really do." He continued the game.

"Then, may you lead the path this time" she said with a playful smile and a mannered gesture with arms. Hao chuckled, because by this joke she made a strong discrepancy between her gesture and her direct nature of being.

The sun was descending behind a hill, forming the shape of a semi-closed purple eye, watching over the wildness. The time of the predators was over.

_To be continued..._

* * *

_*Author Note: The Pterodatylus was in The Late Jurassic Period, and this period is known for the mid-sized dinosaurs and also the apparition of other species of animals, such as birds and fishes (ex:shark was also in that period, depending on the region). So near the very beginning of the mamals._

_Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's no way I will introduce a freaking T-Rex in this area, no matter how cool it sounds! Otherwise it wouldn't be called the Eeden Garden because there would be way too much chaos._

_Maybe the others would fight another dino...just maybe...Pfft, I don't know why I introduced those reptiles in the first place, now my mind is going all crazy about the endless possibilities :s _


	11. Chapter 11: Cambia su color

**Chapter XI**

**Cambia su color**

***A song that you have to listen to, it creates the perfect atmosphere! **Cocorosie-Brazilian Sun**. You MUST listen to it after *I'll tell you when*

* * *

There was the sundown, and in the area specially prepared for the shaman who have passed the first probe. Akira also took Manta with her, because he wanted to see his friends more than anything else. Besides, it will keep her company and avoid boring herself. Even if she knew that in the first day almost nobody could escape, she still was obligated by the rules to supervise and formally greet the competitors.

"And also, the first that comes through this gate receives an exclusive free ticket for two persons at the hot springs!" Akira declared with pride as she was indicating the human-size portal meant to link the two worlds.

"Ugh…isn't that a bit of a rip-off?" Manta said disappointed.

"What do you mean? One hour bath is really expensive!"

"I don't think it would be a concern for us…"

"Oh, that's right….It's because you are Oyamada Manta, and your father is the owner of the international company." She said with a glance in her eyes.

"Uh that's not what I meant…"

"Shall we make a bet then? If you win, I'm going to offer you an unlimited pass ticket at the hot springs!"

"Huh, that would be nice I guess…"

"But if you loose then you'll pay me the equivalent value of that subscription."

"Ok that won't be so…wait! How much it would cost!?"

"Ah, seems like the first contestants arrived! What a surprise! Remember, I bet on that friend of yours and that commanding Kyoyama girl."

"What?! That was the team I was going to bet on!"

"Too late, no returns. So the winner is…None? Hmph." Akira said with a slight frown and Manta shockingly let a shout out when he saw a blue haired man wearing a black elegant latino costume and a matching hat, of course. His collar was made of abundant silk pieces of material and his shoes were perfectly made for a tango. They have both never seen him before, so he was a new participant for sure. Could he be that powerful to have passed this probe just in one day?

"Oh, allow me to introduce myself. My name, ladies and…the little ones is Juan Carlos De Los Parlotes De Amadeo! But you can call me…" he makes a few step moves..."Alejandro." and put his hat on top of his head in an overly dramatic gesture.

The spectators both remained with their mouth opened when they saw this awkwardly lame and too bombastic presentation.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? How come that YOU came first here, from all the participants!?" Manta said in consternation.

"Ah, shall I explain. You see, my Mistress granted me the permission to use the escaping portal. Without her I would have forever wandered in that endlessly baneful wildness or even be slaughtered by that dreadful heteroclite!" he said with emphasis, thing which made Manta slap his head.

"A heteroclite? That is unusual…" Akira said thoughtfully.

"If it hadn't been for her brilliant plant. I…"

"Enough talking, you receive a special prize." She handed him the tickets.

"Oh! What a delightful surprise!"

"Such a waste…" Manta said to himself.

"Actually, consider yourself lucky." Akira said with a winning glance.

"But it wouldn't have been fair at all! Why haven't you bet on your daughter in the first place?!" Manta said in quick defence.

"Hmph? My daughter? She may be strong, but she still has a lot to learn." She said vacant, with a soft, calm voice, thing which made Manta to get a surprised look.

"_And I hope she's fine." _She thought, still thinking about the one that was standing close to her daughter before they teleported. She still didn't know what was in that boy's head, but all she knew was that she could put her trust in that strong willed look she had in that night…

* * *

The World was spinning. And the night came, as the blue moon was rising from the depths of the Spirit Lake, emanating a pure liquid light.

"Is this a safe place to sleep? It feels to me that we are a bit exposed." Rilury asked, as they stood nearside a cliff, where the sight of the vivid lake was quite clear. They were also staying in front of a soft burning fire, on a pile of leaves she put to sleep well enough this night. But still, as the sun went off, the heat also vanished with a scent of lila perfume and spilling the blue ink on the Eden's green wings.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to miss a second of this night." Hao said on a mysterious tone.

The evening was beautiful, but it started to be cold. She instinctively wrapped her arms.

She felt some cloth wrapping her shoulders. It seemed like a white cloak hanging on her, but it was actually a poncho. His poncho.

"You can cover yourself with this, I don't need it." He said not giving a great importance to his gesture, like Rilury did.

"No, I can't-, you can't stay like this…on this cold night!" she quickly added, as not to seem slightly bothered by the fact that he was half naked…again.

"Have you forgotten? Since I control fire, I am pretty good on maintaining the right temperature of my body" he said with a careless assurance. "But could it be… that you are more bothered by the fact that I don't have any clothes on?" He glanced with a smirk.

She blushed and frowned at the same time.

"NOT AT ALL! Don't be such a-"

**_***play the song! I said PLAY IT! D:***_**

She couldn't finish her sentence, because her thoughts were also interrupted by the suddenly glowing lake, which was emanating an incandescent blue.

The birds were singing the pure melody of a sweet morning.

"It started" Hao said on a soft voice, as he's been waiting for this.

Rustles. Out of the leaves the animals were unveiling themselves. First there were the rabbits, then the gentle deers followed by all sorts of other species. They were all herbivores and peaceful, and also from the surface of the lake, strange blue sparkles were caressing their fur.

Some of them would softly lean their head and drink from the lake. The little waves which were forming on the surface unleashed tiny essences of spirits, floating like feathers in the wind and spreading their glow everywhere in a mellow dance.

"The night is a favorable medium for those spirits to wander around." explains Hao. "As the normal soul becomes more vulnerable in the night, so have those animals the opportunity to live in harmony. This is a normal day for them, but it never ceases to fascinate me.". His look seemed to be quite absorbed by the vivid décor of this other part of the Graden of Eden.

The stars were nothing else but fireflies.

* * *

In a glade lightened by the warm says of the moon, the calm figure of a dreamy boy and the girl who could express herself in the middle of nowhere…there it was everything they needed.

The night was dancing in shades of blue above them.

They were hidden by the big leaves of a translucent green.

Anna sighed, but this time it was more like taking a breath. She came closer to Yoh and their arms touched. Before she could say something, Yoh also sighed.

"Harmony. This is how I usually like to imagine the world." He said while admiring the nature unfolding itself in light shaded patterns.

"It will become a reality when you'll become the Shaman King." Anna said trying to hide any inflexion of her voice.

She felt nervous for no reason, after such a long time since the Osorezian Revoir.

"Hm, you're right, Anna". He looked at her and smiled warmly. She had a slight blush and turned her look.

"All I want is for you to become happy." She said while holding her knees.

"I know."

In the blue light of the moon, her hair waved in the shadows.

In the blue light of the moon, her eyes captured the gleam of the butterflies.

He hugged her spontaneously. He didn't know what gave him this strong impulse. All that he knew was that he had the same butterflies. The same flying creatures which you would never let them go.

In the blue light of the moon, their lips touched a soft kiss that stained with a red color their pale skin which reflected the spread ink. After slowly removing his mouth, Yoh leaned on the back and held her tight on his chest.

Even if the whole world was unsettled, even if the crowds were agitated, heading nowhere, making Yoh feel lost in the doubtful emotions, making him to flawlessly react by going with the flow…

One thing was for certain. That he will never let her go.

The dreams slowly wrapped the two warm bounded bodies.

The night was revealing its splendor of magic.

* * *

The dance continued calmingly in a deep silence, and Rilury maintained it, as she was absorbed by its refulgence. Even if the animals were freely walking, their movements were so gentle that all they could produce was a soft noise, which wouldn't bother anybody. It was actually quite pleasurable for a deep sleep. Her eyes were closing slowly.

She startled, as she felt a strange weight on her right shoulder. She quickly looked on that side, to see nobody else but him, unintentionally leaning on her in his sleep.

How could he fall asleep before her? Come to think of it, the stone preserved her a lot of energy while he didn't even have time to rest since that battle. And he also consumed much more furyoku than her.

But still she felt strange. She didn't know if it was because of the contact they weren't supposed to have, or because of…

Hao's sleeping face. Even with his eyes closed, his expression seemed to be so…dreamy. Like an innocent boy peacefully sleeping, but still seeming to search for something in his dreams…

Was he the same boy from today, that wants to destroy all humans? An image of his smirking expression crossed her mind and she smiled warmly. This strong contrast makes him look now kind of...cute. Her cheeks borrowed a hot red color.

But she couldn't leave him like this. After all, she also had to sleep. She tried to gently move his head.

"Now, now Hao…I also want to have my sweet dreams…" she said on a soft voice, then she leaked a slight surprised sound, as he fell further on her lap.

She blushed even more, but then in her eyes there was a light sparkle. He really fell into a profound sleep and it seems like her knees were much more comfortable for him, as he leaked a soft breathe.

The pale moonlight was reflecting on his skin.

She's never seen him like that before: breathing so slowly...So defenceless, but feeling at the same time so safe and somehow fulfilled...

Her eyes became warm. She put her hand on his hair.

"Baka*…you sleep like a kitten." She said softly with her lips made in an apparently pouting expression, her cheeks covered in rose petals of light. She stood in that position for a while, just looking at him.

But as the time was flowing in the night's blur she unconsciously was leaning slowly on her back...even if she wanted to stay awake more, just to memorize this moment that she knew she probably won't happen again soon enough.

The night covered them up in blue sheets and green pillows. She was breathing deeply in a warm sleep, with not only the poncho keeping her warm, but also his body. Hao was resting his head on her belly and he put his arm around her. She was slightly holding his hand under the white cloth.

The spirits were dancing, and so were their subconscious feelings.

(INSERT IMAGE HERE**)

* * *

*_baka=moron, silly(in this context) ~japanese_

**THE IMAGE I'M TALKING ABOUT is something that I've poorly drawn D': .It's nothing, really, but I though that since I worked a bit on it, why not post it?

**_imgur... (slash)iHhxabZ_**

_(...) means dotcom_

_dot means._

_you get the rest._

Please don't be harsh. Honestly it didn't picture Hao as well as I wanted to, but oh well :l. I hope I'll improve myself as I write the story :

Thanks for reading, hope you've enjoyed it! And thanks again for the reviews, they give me a boost and I hope that more of you would share your opinion about this! :D


	12. Chapter 12: Revelation

**Chapter XII**

**Revelation**

Song for this chapter: **Enya- Carribbean Blue** (lyrics included in the stroy)

*grammatical mistakes will be corrected as soon as possible, as again I didn't have the patience to edit it now, sorry :s

*picture included!

* * *

The strong white rays of the strange sphere of light which's rise was announcing the beginning of the day drove Rilury insane. She was still tired from last night and barely could open her eyes. But when she did, she realized that she was all alone but still had the sheet underneath not taken away.

"_He would probably come back. But that's not an excuse to just leave me like that in the middle of nowhere!" _ she angrily thought and started looking for him only to express her complaints about how a horrible partner he was. After all, they've had…sort of a deal…maybe? She didn't know why they even ended up together from the beginning. They could have just split and she would have defiantly found a way all by herself. That would have been perfect. But, before she could leave like he did, she had to find water. Come to think of it, she barely noticed that she was thirsty until she almost reached the limit of her physiological need. The body was the oversoul object in this world and the bounds aren't so tighten here and maybe this is why she only perceived a small thirst, even if she hadn't been drinking anything for 24 hours.

But the cliff was too high for her just to jump to the lake without using furyoku and not getting nearly killed. She just had to find a small river.

As she was walking deep in the woods she couldn't help notice a small rustle behind her whenever she would move more than five meters. This time she counted her steps and before taking the last one she turned around.

"Freeze! I have a…a sharp amulet that could cut you in half!" she tried to make a lame warning.

"So it's really you who took that stone…"

A more feminine voice than hers, crystal clear, was coming from a younger girl than her. She was wearing a long, black elegant dress which somehow resembled the Victorian era of England. Her silver hair was silky and very long till it reached her thin calves covered by striped black and white socks. Something that caught Rilury's attention was her dark eyes which didn't seem to have a stable black color. The iris seemed to be more like a dark fluid always in motion, somehow foggy, just like a black hole ready to absorb you.

On her head was a hair band with a blue rose attached on it, the only colorful spot on her.

After a while of checking her out, Rilury snapped out of it and tried to give a proper answer.

"No, um, somebody err…kind of gave it to me.."

"I know."

" Wait, so you were following me this whole time?!"

"Of course. I only did this noise on purpose so you will notice me. It's always impolite to bump on someone uninvited"

She was talking with an expressionless face.

"BUT you followed me! Why would you do that?!"

"I have my own private reasons"

"What?! You broke my privacy in the first place!"

"And apparently so wanted this cobra."

Rilury looked instinctively behind. Ten centimeters away was standing a dead cobra which was just in the middle of its fast and silent attack. She didn't even have time to recover from the shock as behind that girl was a huge grizzly bear already on his two feet with its claw raised for a deadly hit.

It collapsed immediately, without her even having to look behind.

"This place is exposed. Should we talk somewhere else?" she said, not even bothered by these creatures that would have given Rilury a lot of trouble if she would have been alone here.

* * *

"Ah, I see now. So you were just trying to find teammates."

"Not quite. But since you were the only one left without a team and I already have another one, I suppose it is also your interest."

"Well, I haven't really thought about this before…"

She was hoping she could team up with that boy, Lyserg. He seemed to be a nice guy.

Miyako...this was her name, meaning child of the night. She told her that she knew all the teams from the last SF, as she isn't just another new competitor. According to her, he first time she participated in this fight there wasn't a fair number of shamans for making teams. So she was left behind, therefore this time she made sure she had the team formed right before the second round. She already found a new teammate, so the only one left is Rilury who should make a decision.

Just as she thought, everyone of them already made their groups and she couldn't just break in…If it weren't for Miyako, perhaps the same thing would have happened to her.

After all, they both seem to be alike considering this point of view.

"But yeah. I accept your offer." Rilury smiled, but Miyako had no reaction at all.

"Alright. First thing to do for you is to become stronger." She categorically said.

"What?!" Rilury said in disappointment and a bit ashamed.

"Look at your level of furyoku. I can also sense it. If it weren't fr that stone, you wouldn't have survived by now."

Rilury nodded a bit resigned.

"I know… But how can I do that in such a short amount of time"

Miyako's corner of her lips somehow curved.

"It's simple. But you have to keep it a secret."

"No problem!" she said with a short confidence which suddenly disappeared at the sudden image of Hao smirking in her head. "But…how can I hide anything…from that bastard's mind?! Guh!" around her were flames of anger.

"Take this."

"Huh?"

Rilury watched surprised the strange jewelry that Miyako was offering her in her delicate palm. It seemed to be a black pearl which color contrasted so well with her white skin.

"This is an earring I have specially designed for blocking any exterior agent of making contact with one's mind. Vodoo, possessions , curses and even mind reading."

"It sure looks nice…" Rilury said with admiration. "You know, you could start producing your own line of jewelry after all this is over."

Miyako smiled a bit for herself.

"Maybe, but I think it'll remain a hobby, because this time...nothing will fail." She replied while standing up and then started walking away.

"Wait!" Rilury called. "What's the secret of becoming stronger?"

"Just take a bath in the Spirit Lake this night. With nothing but your necklace on." She answered without turning her back and then walked further.

* * *

Rilury was returning to the camp place while thinking about this strange meeting. She was wearing on her right ear the strange beautiful black earring and thought if it really worked. If so, then Miyako must be a strong shaman, especially because she also put down two dangerous creatures without even lifting a finger.

She was staying just in the same place where last night, two young shamans shared a kiss. The location was quite safe and it offered her enough silence for her to think.

"_With nothing but your necklace on."_ She blushed. How could she risk being seen naked in the wild, especially with…him? The thought nearly crossed her head as Hao suddenly appeared from behind the huge leaves, carrying a flask of water. He also didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"Where have you been?" he frankly asked.

"I…was just taking a walk in the nature." She answered in a defensive mode.

Hao darted a serious glance at her. Then his look became shocked.

She smirked.

"So? How does it feel not being able to read my mind for the first time?"

He frowned in consternation but shortly regained his composure.

"Hmph. Simple protecting spell. I don't know how you got it, but you should know that this Reishi ability grants me the power not only to read your mind, but also your heart."

Rilury startled a bit as he smirked.

"Just now you felt intimidated by me."

"No I was not!" she replied with her short temper.

"Your thoughts are influencing your emotions. So I can also tell when you're lying."

"As if I care!" she said a bit pissed. "I'm only glad that now I can have at least some privacy! Because, as far as I see, you are kind of a stalker type, aren't you?" she shortly gave him a comeback.

"Hmph. It was just impolite of you to leave my poncho like that. Somebody could have stolen it."

"Yeah right." She said to herself, but Hao ignored that.  
"So, should we head further? It is already afternoon." He said indifferently.

"Ah!" she reminded something."Um…I think it would be the best not to head far from the lake. I…somehow sense a portal."

"You're a terrible liar."

She felt somehow attacked, but maintained a firm position.

"So what? I have my own reasons of doing so, and it is my choice if I want o tell you or not. If don't like this way of exploring, considering that we don't know where to go yet, then you are free to go."

Hao looked at her and then had a satisfied smile.

"It's fine with me." He answered carelessly. "But you have to know, this is called a compromise. And the other part must also have something in return" he smirked.

She looked at him suspiciously but then answered with a sigh.

"Fine. But today is mine! So first thing...could I have some of that water, please?" She asked without letting her coolness down.

He threw the flask to her.

"It was for you from the beginning."

"Then why-...oh, never mind" she said as she drank the refreshing liquid.

"Thanks! Now all I want is to sleep." she added as she laid on her back, because the place they were in was quite a good hideout for the day.

"Why?" he asked with a smug. He laid next to her and his palm was holding his head, which was supported by his elbow. "Planning to do something at night?"

"I'm tired." She said, not negating the question. "Last night you were propped on me so I could barely sleep." She said with a slight grin.

His smug disappeared but still gave no answer than giving a short sigh. He closed his eyes and turned on the other side.

"_Playing the mature type, huh?"_ she said, but only in her head, somehow wanting him to hear that. But she looked at the sky with a satisfied smile. Her eyes slowly closed as they were counting the clouds running on the light blue color.

* * *

The night was clear.

The Spirit Lake was spreading its glamour in the darkness, steady and calm, reflecting the blue moon so clear like a mirror. The light waves were dancing on the surface, like it was waiting to embrace something…or someone.

Rilury was standing at the edge of the lake. She somehow managed to sneak in without waking the other one up. Now she was admiring the blue water's refulgence.

She took her clothes off, one by one. Even her earring, because she felt that she had to make full contact with the essence of the lake.

The only thing left was the blue stone, which was somehow gleaming under the pale rays of the moon.

She took a step in and the fluid liquid welcomed her foot with the right temperature. She then walked further, her body slowly dipping in the lake.

_*song plays*_

When he arrived, she was already half sunken in the water. Only her back was being caressed by the light of the moon making her skin to have a soft gloss. Her curves were harmonizing perfectly with the light waves on the surface.

This sight made him have a soft blush under his eyes, as he wasn't expecting to see this forbidden marble of the night. He instinctively turned his look but he couldn't help himself not looking back, when the water almost reached her neck. What was she doing here? Why? Those were questions that couldn't leave his head.

The water had flown above her chest, as she walked deeper in the lake. When the blue stone touched the surface of the lake, a strong turquoise glow spread within seconds on all the surface. Her eyes caught the gleam.

The spirits were awakening by yellow sparkles arranging themselves in a bright circuit.

Ball of lights were rising from the depths, floating like leaves on the surface.

_Dance! Dance!_ The whispers were spreading in the air, and the waves became bigger, as the lake became more agitated because of the light.

She rose her hand from the water. Standing on her tiptoes, she made a pirouette and the tiny spirits were guiding her steps by playing with her hands. She made slow and gracious moves, dancing like a swan among the diamonds.

He watched her, and the sparkle of the light was reflecting in his eyes. His look was absorbed by the gorgeousness of the girl dancing with the spirits of the water.

_So the world goes round and round_

_With all you ever knew_

_They say the sky high above_

_Is Caribbean blue _

The spirits were singing, as the water rose and she was higher and higher, as her head leaned on the star décor.

He couldn't turn his look away. He wasn't thinking anymore if her body could be exposed. He was instinctively driven by a strange burning desire of absorbing everything with his eyes. Fascinated by the glamour, spellbound by her spreading charm ...

The water was also creating her a blue dress covering her lady blossoms. She was being protected by the lake by all the curious looks, because she was now one with the spirits. And they wanted to keep her pure. Her body was a temple and her spirit was a diamond they must polish to give it its fully potential brilliance. (*INSERT IMAGE HERE!)

_If every man says all he can,_

_If every man is true,_

_Do I believe the sky above_

_Is Caribbean blue?_

Those words made him gain his senses. What was wrong with him? He usually has the common sense of not breaking this kind of privacy, but this time…

Was Hao bewitched?...By her?

Rilury didn't have the slightest concern. The spirits were already showing her the true beauty of the world. The Carribean islands, where the sky and the sea were one. Where the mermaids took her by the hand, were combing her hair and singing her a charming song. Explaining the cycle of the Earth, the meaning of dancing with the spirits, the bound with between nature and her true self. Trying to show her something covered in the mantle of the Universe...

_If all you told was turned to gold,_

_If all you dreamed were new,_

_Imagine sky high above_

_In Caribbean blue_

Around her unfolded a golden aura. Her spirit has grown and the spectacle was ending in a burst of light. The water broke forth in a jet like an artesian well and the light refracted in the drops of water.

A gorgeous rainbow.

A huge waves took her from under the arcade of light, but was as gentle as a woman's hand catching a butterfly.

He left before the wave brought her to the shore. She opened her eyes, as being disrupted for the reverie. Everything felt like a dream, but she knew it was real.

It felt…wonderful. The dense spirit energy was already flowing through her veins.

* * *

When Rilury returned, she already saw Hao waiting for her, with his arms crossed, leaning on a tree with a careless position. Just like the time she firstly seen him in this world.

"I see you took a walk again."

She didn't answer. After all, she didn't need to give him any report. Good thing she was wearing the earring.

"Tonight the Spirit Lake had an unusual glow. So I went to check out what was happening."

She blushed. Could it be possible, that he...had seen her naked?

"I like that your hair is still wet." He made a biting remark that made her attend to slap him.

So predictable. He stopped her hand by grabbing her wrist. Before she could react he grabbed the other one and he was already immobilizing her from the back.

She stood there, unable to move as he was holding her hands at the level of her head and made her impossible to turn at him.

His face came close to her neck ad he whispered on her right side, with a slight smirk.

"What a nice black pearl you have. But just one earring doesn't suit you."

His lips touched her lobe and he took the pearl in his teeth. His breath felt dangerously on her neck.

But before he could take it off, her right foot kicked him right on the shin. The kick was so powerful that it made him take some distance. He felt on one knee and stared at her with an angered expression.

But when she turned at him, her eyes were inflamed. She looked at him firmly and mischievous..

"Stop toying with me, Hao!" she shouted as she rose her fist and plunged it directly in the ground.

Suddenly the earth shook and yellow spikes cracked a bit the earth and at least five glowing ball of lights appeared in different locations.

"These are the portals. You know where they are now. This is our compromise. Rilury is out." She made a military gesture with her hand, perhaps a joke she instinctively made to break the tension a bit and not ending the partnership on bad terms.

She then ran in the opposite direction. Hao watched her surprisingly walking away. The strong punch in the ground was defiantly aimed at him at first, but she managed to control her temper.

The smirk reappeared on his lips.

Still, _she_ surpassed him. She did it a few times before, but this time the result was different than he expected.

Few people do that with him. But in the end, he _always_ get what he wants.

Or, more exactly, _who_...

* * *

*IMAGE:

imgur...(slash)xAovNq9

(...) means dotcom

dot means .

you get the rest :D

**Hope you enjoyed this (kind of too long) chapter! Make reviews and tell me how you think it was!


	13. Chapter 13: Good Luck

**Chapter XIII**

**Good Luck**

* PICTURE INCLUDED (see below)

*music free chapter! but only this time :3

* * *

She ran like nothing could stop her. The wind was pushing her forward, as she was constantly willing to reach the nearest portal and get out of here.

She couldn't stand him, not anymore, not in this place. What was wrong with him? When they were meeting every evening, training together…Well he still acted a bit cocky, but it was fun. It was fun to learn a few moves and then, after her getting exhausted, they would just sit at a campfire or watch the stars. They would discuss about the Shaman Tournament, hell, she was even hoping for them to be in the same team, but of course she never mentioned that.

There was no tension, like it is now. It wasn't psychically consumptive for her every time they'll talk, but now…Was it all because she found out his dark side? But still, Hao himself would act a bit different when he was around her. Constant ping-pong of biting words, ad the normal talks would last now less than five minutes.

Everything changed, since that night. She clearly noticed a strange change of light in his eyes…but not when he revealed his plans, but only when she firmly stared at him after that slap…Did he change his perception about her?

Even so, she wanted those moments back. In some way, she had to do something. But not here, not now…

Miyako appeared out of nowhere, going with the same speed as her. But, apart from her running, she was actually…

"Floating?! How can you do that?" Rilury asked surprised as she was graciously sliding on pure air and her skirt was slightly lifted by the wind.

"It's simple. I have enough furyoku to do that. But we must hurry, because I have to introduce you to your new teammate."

"Huh?" Rilury said as she was suddenly carried by the wind. In a matter of seconds they entered the portal which was a few kilometers away. There was a flash of light. The next thing she knew was standing on a field with a bunch of shamans who just got out, seeming as confused as she was.

"Ri-lu-ryyy!" her mother angrily approached her, and the girl became even more flustered.

"What have you done?! Because of you, now nearly all the shamans passed this probe! Not only you revealed all the portal locations, but the light they made also scarred the wild animals away! So all I did was for nothing!" her mother complained.

Still, she was also surprised, as she didn't know her daughter has that much power. She wanted to lecture her more and even put a few questions, but was shortly interrupted by that latino-lover guy…what was his name again? Alejandro?

"Mistress! You finally arrived! I was so worried!" he cried as he knelt in front of Miyako, who didn't seem to be slightly impressed.

"Who is this guy?" Rilury asked in confusion.

"Rilury, meet my slave. He has a weird name, but I call him Alex."

"Oh, miss, your words are hurtful to me!" he cried, but then looked at Rilury. "I like to consider myself her faithful assistant, and one day I will become worthy for my master to fully pronounce my name! Pleasured to meet you!" he declared proudly, as he kissed her hand.

"Don't touch my daughter!" Akira shouted after she kicked him with her foot.

"So embarrassing…." Rilury said to herself, but then her eyes shortly went on the boy that just exited another portal near them.

"My, my, it seems that because of you I'm late. All of my people already arrived before me." Hao said arrogantly, while looking at her.

A heavy aura of anger shortly surrounded Rilury. "You-…."

"Hao-sama!" Opacho ran towards him and hugged his leg." Opacho and Luchist waited for Hao-sama for five hours! Opacho was worried" she cried.

"There's no need to cry now, Opacho." He said on a mild tone while patting her head.

_Such a strong contrast… _Rilury thought to herself, after being calmed down by that little girl's presence.

A few more shamans arrived shortly and then Akira declared the ending for the last preliminary round.

"All right, all shamans, head to the stadium now, the tournament panel will be out shortly… Tsk, because of my daughter, I didn't even reduce the number of the participants to half…"

"Wait, mom, what happened to the ones that couldn't pass this test?" she asked with a worried voice.

"Well, even if I would have enjoyed if they would have been killed by those animals…"

"Mom!"

"Ah, I still deported them back to America safely, maybe with a few scratches…but on the whole, safe and sound…" Akira said in disappointment.

Rilury warmly smiled. She knew that her mother wasn't a bad person as she wanted to seem.

"Rilury! I'm glad you also passed! Do you want to come with us?"

A few meters away was Yoh, smiling as always. She waved back at him, but before heading towards them, Miyako said with an expressionless face:

"See you later, Rilury."

She nodded in agreement.

* * *

"What?! My first battle is starting in one hour!? But I haven't even fully rested!" Rilury complained as she has seen the first battle on the panel.

"Black Pearl"…It was a suitable name for the team she was in. After all, Miyako mentioned something about the name…

"And the team you're battling is Hana-gumi (Team Flower). Those witches that are following Hao…Good luck with that." Ren said with an indifferent tone.

"Don't worry, Rilury, you will work it out somehow." Yoh encouraged her, thing which rose up her moral a bit.

"Yeah, me and Chocolove will be encouraging you from the backstage!" Horohoro proudly declared.

"I haven't even met her properly…" Chocolove whispered but his neck was even more fastened by the blue haired boy's arm.

"We'll be there!" the Ainu shaman said even louder.

"Me too!" Lyserg came out of nowhere and smiled at her.

"Oh, then I'll come with my precious Lyserg and cheer you up, beautiful lady!" Ryu said, but shortly knocked down by both Horohoro and Chocolove.

"Ren, are you coming too?" Yoh asked.

"No. I am going to rest and recover properly. You should do that too." He said plainly and Rilury felt those words like a rock of disappointment on her head.

"Ah, so we're fighting already." Miyako's unmoved voice came from the back, thing which made everyone's heads turn over. She was with her slave-…*coughs* I mean faithful assistant nearby. "Rilury, I am also eager to see you in action." She added, but on the same plain tone, before she left.

Everybody remained silent.

"This dark furyoku pressure…I haven't felt that since we first met Hao…" Horohoro said.

"Wait, you're teammates with her?" asked Lyserg in surprise.

"He-he, it's not like I've had any other option…Plus, she doesn't seem to be a bad person…" Rilury explained flustered.

"Hmph." Ren smirked, thing which made everyone look at him surprised. "On second thoughts, maybe I will also come to see the fight."

* * *

The Stadium was full and shortly bored by Radim's speech. The public wanted to see a shaman fight, and they wanted it now. That's why loudly cheers burst when the Hana-Gumi team entered on the stage, as the team's reputation was known from the previous Tournament. And their faces remained afterwards in a confusing disgrace when, after their opinion, they saw a lame-ass blonde latino-lover, a goth girl with daddy issues holding a strange octopuss toy in her hands and some sort of a rough girl who didn't get enough sleep and looked like a monster with those huge black eyebags. (*INSERT PICTURE HERE)

"What is this, some sort of a joke?" Kanna asked ironically when she saw their opponents.

"Oh, you'll laugh a lot when my foot is going to be stuck in your lame asses!" Rilury shouted, and this reply seemed to have consumed her a lot of energy, as she felt dizzy afterwards.

"You can't even stand on your two feet and yet you're acting so tough. I don't even need to bother myself. "

"Kanna-san, just let me take care of her." Matilda said with her eyes thirsty for blood.

She got up on the stage, where Rilury was, but after she shouted at them she was kind of tossing from side to side because of her tiredness.

Matilda made an oversoul with Jack the Ripper.

"I hope you enjoyed that time spent with Hao-sama, some precious time that you aren't even worthy of it!" she said before attacking her quickly with Jack's knives.

"Whoah, whoah, calm yourself crazy witch! I haven't even formed my oversoul yet!" Rilury said while dodging the attack with a jump."Gah, why did you make me do that? Now I'm physically even more wasted!" She yawns while pulling out the wolfram sword."And no, I did not enjoyed my time with that bastard!"

She dodged another attack, but this time it was a bullet coming from Marion's oversoul.

"She called you a witch, and also insulted Hao-sama. I will not hold myself in this battle." She said to Matilda who remained a bit surprised.

"Damn, I should have made my oversoul quicker…" Rilury said to herself. "All I did was uselessly...make...physical effort." she said while swaying around.

"Shut up dirty wretch! How dare you to treat this battle with such an attitude!" Marion with Chuck's gun pointed at Rilury.

"Let's just finish her with one hit" Matilda smirked and Marion nodded as she jumped at the other side of the stage.

But Rilury didn't seem to hear what they were planning. While Matilda was preparing her Trick or Treat move, her concentration was on Matilda who was walking towards her with Chuck, to have a better range. She tried to bind a few words:

"You *yawns*…how could you call me…a…*yawns*"

The sound of her voice was covered by the shotgun and the powerful blast that Jack made attacking the victim. The powerful collision and the gun powder made everything covered in smoke. After everything became clear again, Rilury was lying on the ground.

The public was cut out of breath by seeing that powerful attack.

"What? She already collapsed?!" Manta said in shock.

"_Is she dead?" _the thought came from most of the people, including Opacho who was standing on the railing to see the match. A slightly amused smile came upon her master's lips.

"That girl…She's really interesting." Hao said amused.

* * *

"Manta…" Yoh said bringing the little boy who remained with a shocked expression. "Look closely. I think she's just asleep" he said with a smile.

Indeed, Rilury was breathing with her mouth open.

"Whaaat?! She took a nap during a battle? But how the attack did not affect her?!"

"It's simple" he explained. "Just like in my battle with the Icemen, her furyoku so high that it helps her instinctively defend herself."

Matilda and Marion were shocked. How disrespectful…Matilda came close to her and lifted her foot.

"You bastard. Wake up!"

But she didn't have the chance to hit her because of the shield she instinctively created when Rilury suddenly woke up.

"What the hell!" she shouted. "Oh wait…it was just a nightmare." She said while looking around. "Wait, this battle isn't over yet?"

"How dare you to underestimate us!" both girls shouted while preparing another double attack. "This will use almost all our furyoku and will instantly kill you!" Matilda said with a bit of madness in her eyes.

"Gah but I'm still sleepy! But I guess I have no choice" she said while pulling out the wolfram sword. After it shone with electric spikes, she split it in two.

"You know, I dreamed something about my power...And I found out, it's mostly based on atom fusion. So yeah, what will attack you would be some simple gamma rays, that's all." She said with a smirk, while rotating the two lightning blades she had in her hands. They've reproduced the strange forms of two atoms, which headed each in the directions of the two girls.

The ring splintered yellow. After that, both Marion and Matilda were lying off the stage.

"You're lucky I can control this radiation only to dissolve your oversouls." She said and then yawned again. "Now it's your turn, Kanna! But after I take another nap…."

"Rilury, what you did is enough, thank you. Plus that if you oversleep again, you will break your oversoul and loose." Miyako's voice was heard from behind.

"Well, sleeping is my number one priority, so…" Rilury said while getting off the stage and put her head on a pillow specially brought by Alejandro. That guy was a good servant and had everything his master needed for her comfort.

"Hmm, so I guess you think you have the chances to defeat me, little girl?" Kanna asked with jeer. She was also surprised by Rilury's attack, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to fight in that condition.

"Actually, I will not bother myself in this easy fight. My servant, Alex, will deal with you"

"Miss, you called me a servant!" Alejandro cried with joy.

"Hmph, so after I defeat this pitiful guy, you'll come and dirty your princess fingers?"

"As her faithful assistant, I don't allow you to taunt my master. I demand that you kneel and apologize right before her."

"Shut up, dirty ass wiper." Kanna said and Ashcroft hit him with his spear. It plunged direct in his waist.

"Just as I thought. Another weakling who got in the Tournament just by obeying like a slave to the other shamans." Kanna said in disgust, while plunging the spear deeper in Alejandro's body.

"Wait a second, miss. I didn't negate that I'm a faithful servant, but who said I'm weak?"

Kanna's eyes looked shocked as the red scarf tied around his waist turned into a ferocious creature that he was riding. That was his oversoul in disguise.

"A bull?" she said shocked.

"Not just a bull. Look closer at its horns." The spear was made into pieces by them. But there wasn't only metal pieces, but also all sorts of old red cloth ripped off and hanging on the huge horns. "This is the magnificent creature that survived not less than 89 spanish bullfighting, sliced 56 matadors before being shot to death because of its threat."

The bull butt at Ashcroft and completely destroyed its armor.

"Consider yourself lucky, miss. Indeed, my mistress let me join the Shaman Fight and it is I who pleaded her for my own life in the initiation round. But I am a man with honor and I respect the promise I made to her that day. But I suppose you too know, what loyalty means, don't you miss?"

"Stop giving me that bullshit politeness! My name is Kanna Bismarch. And the battle isn't over yet!" she said, obviously been angered by his last remark.

On the arena rose a dense smoke. It was Ashcroft's medium. In the dense smoke, spears were heading toward Alejandro. He pulled out the red scarf.

"Torro! If you want to domesticate such a creature, you must have the necessary torero master skills." He said while appearing to dodge the attacks easily.

"You call yourself a man, but all you do is avoid my attacks!" Ashcroft's voice was heard from the dense smoke. "I'm going to get a forward attack, and you can't avoid my spear from slicing your head anymore!"

He appeared from the smoke with a his spear pointed at him. Not only that the loss of the armor made him even faster, but the furyoku was condensed only in his weapon.

"Oh, but who said I was avoiding your spears?"

Ashcroft watched in shock as the bull appeared behind the red cloth and torn the weapon into pieces with his horns.

" I was just directing my bull's attacks towards your spear. You see, those animals are attracted by the red color, which angers them easily. That's what tauromachia means " He said, then she put the scarf on Ashcroft's head, who was still shocked."Ole!"

The bull butt against him sliced the spirit, therefore breaking Kanna's oversoul.

"My work here is done. It was a pleasure fighting with you, miss Bismarch." He said while taking Kanna's hand in his palms. She was still shocked by the scene, but before he could kiss her hand she slapped him.

"I don't like formal addressing." She said with a normal and firm tone, walking away, thing which gave Alejandro a a mysterious smile on his lips.

"That's some sparkle over there." Anna said indifferently while drinking her refreshing soda, thing which made Yoh smile.

* * *

"All right, now I'm ready to fight you-….What?! Where the hell is everybody?!" Rilury said astonished when she saw the whole stage emptied.

"They left and nobody could bother you from your profound sleep." Hao appeared in front of her with a smirk.

"Wait, you saw the match? Hah, did you see how I've beaten up your cheerleaders? That's what you are going to get if you'll get on my nerves again!" she said proudly.

"I doubt it". He responded indifferently.

"Now, I'll also head home because I still didn't get enough sleep." She said walking away.

"Where?" he asked with a smug.

"That's none of your-…Wait! I don't know either where is my room!"

"All the hotel rooms are already occupied. It took you long enough to realize that."

"Why do I always have this bad luck? I have to eat! And sleep more!" she complained.

" You could come over to my camp." He said on a superior and luring tone.

"And meet those witches again? Not a chance."

"We won't be bothered by anyone." He put a finger on her lips and glanced in her eyes with an even bigger smirk.

She blushed a bit and took his hand off.

"Hell no!". Her stomach started growling. "Um, just for curiosity…do you have any food?"

"Well, it's about dinner time and Luchist always prepares the finest dishes, especially on special occasions like the beginning of the tournament." He said maintaining his composure.

"Hmph. Maybe I will just come to evaluate his cooking…and rest myself a bit…but only until I figure out a room for myself!" she added categorically.

* * *

IMAGE HERE! It is a fanart (made by me of course T.T)

imgur...(slash)dVlVVRU

(...) means dotcom

dot means .

you get the rest :D

* * *

Please review because the last chapter didn't get any reviews and it really put me down. I don't know why, maybe because I have a low self esteem T.T

sorry for this complaint, nope, never mind the crybaby who just popped out of nowhere...

But please, review! They really help me a lot! (and sorry if I haven't responded to some of them D: -they all were awesome )

And thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
